


The Theoretical Perfect Romance

by bloomacncheez



Category: Free!
Genre: Awkward Dates, Awkward Romance, First Date, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Romance, Romantic build, fluff to more passionate romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-30
Updated: 2017-02-06
Packaged: 2018-04-17 23:14:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 40,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4684865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloomacncheez/pseuds/bloomacncheez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rei finally acts on his long-standing feelings for Nagisa and intends to make their relationship the most perfect and beautiful romance of all. Though, perhaps the theory of a perfect relationship is a little more complicated than he thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Theoretical Perfect Confession

_Arms and legs should never lock…_

_Focus and steady eye contact is essential…_

_Deep breaths beforehand, plan ahead, and don’t hesitate once you dive in…_

* * *

The doorbell jolted Rei out of his intense concentration on his notes and books. At his jump, his red-rimmed glasses fell askew, dangling more around the tip of his nose and cheek. From the door came an enthusiastic greeting in a voice he recognized all too well.

“Rei-chan! Rei-chan, are you home?”

His heart skipped beats and an anxious sigh left him, already exhausted by the loud personality calling from the balcony. Repositioning the glasses to the bridge of his nose, Rei stood slowly and smoothed out his clothes. The doorbell rang again as he closed his notebook and placed it amid the rest of the books in his tightly-packed, though neatly organized bookshelf. He made a quick stop in front of the mirror to assure his glasses were on as straight as he assumed and that no stray hairs were out of place before making his way to the door to welcome his lively company. The sight of the shorter blond boy was no surprise. In fact, Rei had anticipated his visit. After all, it wasn’t unusual for him to show up at his place on a Sunday, nor was it unusual for him to come carrying some sort of souvenir.

“Hi, Rei-chan!” he exclaimed, holding out a heavily sagging plastic bag, “I brought cake!” 

His magenta eyes were brimming with excitement, begging Rei to let him inside as soon as possible so they, rather possibly _he_ , could eat the sweet treat. Rei let out a sigh, pushing his glasses up again.

“Nagisa-kun, once in a while is fine, but you really shouldn’t eat so many sweets,” he said, “It’ll catch up to you later, and Gou-san will never let you hear the end of it.”

Nagisa’s lips stuck out in a pout.

“That’s a funny way to say hello,” he mumbled, then wearing the familiar smile again as he slipped past Rei without a formal invitation and began taking his shoes off, “Besides, we swim enough that it’s okay. Plenty of athletes load up on carbs. Gou-chan doesn’t have to know what kind.”

Rei ignored the intrusion and closed the door behind him.

“At least eat some fruit or vegetables once in a while,” he said, “Noodles at the bare minimum. Healthier carbs than sweets. It’s better to break those habits now so they won’t hurt you when you’re older.”

“What, are you worried about me?” Nagisa asked teasingly.

Rei could feel his face redden and his chest contract as he prepared to defend himself in a flustered attempt at words, but Nagisa was already changing the subject as he hurried along to the bedroom.

“Oh! You already have plates out!”

“Of course,” Rei said under his breath, “It’s not like you don’t bring something over every Sunday when you come to see me.”

He reprocessed the last part over again and shook his head quickly, making a stop at the fridge to grab Nagisa and himself drinks before returning to his room, where his visitor had already made himself comfortable on his bed by sprawling out on his back and messing up the painstakingly smoothed out comforter. Again ignoring his friend’s lack of ability to be a proper houseguest, he held out the strawberry juice box in his hand. Nagisa’s eyes met it with a childish excitement before he looked up at him with a big grin.

“Oh, thanks, Rei-chan!” he cheered enthusiastically, accepting the drink graciously. 

“Y-Yeah,” Rei replied quietly, staring to the right at the edge of the cowhide rug.

He sat on the floor with his back against his bed, twisting the top off the bottle of barley tea and taking a quick chug to cool himself. It was okay, things weren’t going so bad. In fact, it was going almost exactly according to plan, which he needed very badly this day. He stole a glance at Nagisa, who was puncturing a hole in the juice box with the straw, still laying upside-down. He was always so cute, cheerful, and carefree. What would this do to him? Would he retain that demeanor around him, or would this ruin the relationship they had? Or maybe just as bad, would he blow it off altogether? No. Nagisa had a way of pushing Rei’s buttons and crawling under his skin, but it was all for the reaction. He never did it with malicious intent. He had once said if he was a girl that Rei wouldn’t even be a consideration, but they _were_ speaking hypothetically. Maybe he felt differently now. Or maybe he might consider it if he knew Rei was really interested. Or, of course, this could end in complete and utter disaster and leave him feeling uncomfortable and Rei devastated. He’d already committed himself to studying how to bring this up for so long. Any further prolonging would just give his cold feet a chance to run as fast as they could in the opposite direction, deeming all of this emotional turmoil completely pointless. Bringing up worst-case scenarios would just make it harder to speak, so he had to do it immediately.

“N-Nagisa-kun—”

Nagisa immediately broke into a coughing fit, flipping over onto his stomach and covering his nose and mouth. Instinctually, Rei patted his back in a frantic but effective manner.

“Are you okay?!” he asked.

Nagisa nodded through his coughs, laughing. His hand dripped with a transparent pink liquid. Rei sighed, picking up a napkin from the table and handing it to him.

“Don’t drink upside-down,” he muttered, “And get off my bed. If you’re going to make a mess, at least do so on the floor so I can clean it up easier.” 

“Ff-Fi-Fine, fine,” Nagisa chuckled through his coughs, pushing himself up to slide down the bed beside Rei on the floor, dragging half of the comforter with him to Rei’s annoyance.

He cleaned himself up as he settled down, taking a sip from the straw to assure he wouldn’t start up again. Rei sighed with relief, glad he was okay, but still weary from the excitement. At that point, he knew these anxious feelings would only get worse if things went as intended. After another sip of juice, Nagisa scooted closer until they were shoulder-to-shoulder and hip-to-hip.

“So,” he said with a smile, “What are we doing today?”

Rei looked at the assuming boy questioningly.

“What are you talking about?” he asked, “You came over to _my_ place.”

“But I always come over to hang out with Rei-chan,” Nagisa pointed out, “And there’s always something to do. And don’t say study math, that’s boring.”

“You want to study something else?”

“Boo.”

“You’re the one who-”

“We can start with cake.”

Rei was only able to gape in a confused stupor as Nagisa pulled himself closer to the small table, retrieving the plastic bag. He was so quick to move on with conversation, and Rei was unsure of how to redirect the subject back to something he could work with to bring up his own topic. At that exact moment, Nagisa’s priorities were with food. Trying to navigate away from that was futile. His only option was to humor Nagisa for the time being and hope for an opening once they had gotten that out of the way. To Rei’s surprise, what Nagisa had brought over was of a smaller size than usual, and of a different color.

“You brought a vanilla cake?” Rei asked.

“Don’t you like vanilla?” Nagisa asked quizzically.

“I do, but… I don’t really recall mentioning…” 

He trailed off, watching Nagisa carefully measure the cake’s halfway point before pushing the blade of the butter knife through the nicely decorated surface. Rei took another sip of barely tea, letting out a sigh afterwards. Maybe this would be okay after all. Nagisa cared about his well-being for as long as they knew each other, and would likely care about it even more so now. Even if this didn’t go favorably, he would still stay by his side.

“Here.” 

“Oh, thank you,” Rei murmured, half-mindedly holding his hand out to accept a plate.

His hand hovered, awaiting a surface that wasn’t being met. As he turned his head to determine the issue, his lips met a small morsel of the cake being held out to him on a fork. Nagisa smiled at him expectantly. This wasn’t terribly unusual for Nagisa to offer to feed him, but on this day it made Rei particularly uneasy. However, he wasn’t trying to force it down his throat this time, but gently pressing it to his lips to coax his mouth open. For once, this was a cordial, sweet offer of food. The tone could only help at that point, so it would be best to take him up on the offer. Hesitantly, Rei accepted the bite off the fork, noticing Nagisa smile approvingly when he closed his lips over the prongs to slide it off. It may have been escalated from the faint bitterness of the barley tea, but the cake was extremely and pleasantly sweet. Normally, Rei wasn’t fond of excessive sweetness, but this was an exception. What was with Nagisa’s smile today? It was sweeter than the cake. He blushed as he swallowed the moist, spongy pastry, looking away so that he wouldn’t reduce to a pile of mush looking at the sweet face before him.

“What do you think?” Nagisa asked, “Is it good?”

Rei knew better than to avoid eye contact when he answered, lest he looked like he was lying. Nagisa was clearly interested in how Rei felt about the sweet today for whatever reason, so he had to respond truthfully and politely. He managed to make eye contact again, feeling his shields crumble at the hopeful grin.

“Y-Yes,” he stuttered, “It’s delicious…”

Nagisa beamed, curiously quiet for a moment before responding, 

“So, do you take back complaining about it before?”

Rei let out a sigh, both exasperated and amused by the circle-back. Nagisa had a way of getting desired reactions, and Rei almost always went along with it whether he intended to or not. In this case, he was clearly happy about the cake and wanted someone to share the mood with him. Without faltering, he had succeeded again.

“Yes, I take it back,” Rei surrendered with a chuckle, “But still, eat some fruit once in a while.”

Nagisa giggled, delighted and pleased with himself. He popped the fork into his mouth, turning to grab the other plate and fork, but Rei’s eyes were glued to the one from before. Had he forgotten Rei had just put his mouth on it? Did he even care? Decidedly not, as he turned around and offered Rei the full half of cake and the clean fork. This was an oddly generous offer from him, and Rei became wary. Something was definitely strange about today. It couldn’t possibly be his imagination could it? Why now? Why now would things seem different before he’d really had a chance to change anything?

“Rei-chan?” Nagisa asked, his smile gone, “What’s wrong? Is it bad after all?”

His heart flipped over as the guilt overtook him.

“N-No, no, not at all!” Rei stammered, accepting the plate and fork automatically, “Th-Thank you.” 

With his smile back on, sunny as ever, Nagisa went back to his own partially-eaten half of cake and began digging away at it cheerfully. Rei ate much slower, savoring the flavors of each bite before swallowing. In addition to the vanilla, the cake tasted much different today than usual. Often times, he found whatever Nagisa bought was slightly too dry, or had chewy bits of fruit or imperfections in the batter, but this treat was perfect and reminiscent of homemade sweets. He rarely ate the sweets his mother baked so often, but when he did indulge in one of her cakes for his or his brother’s birthday, it often tasted much like the vanilla cake he so happily indulged in now. Since the whole pastry itself was already small, they both finished with their treat quickly, to which Rei was almost disappointed. Of course, he couldn’t let Nagisa know he liked the cake too much, or it might become a regular thing and expand in size. After all, he was quick to latch onto certain minor things.

“That was tasty,” Nagisa said through his last mouthful, dropping white crumbs down his front.

Trying desperately not to roll his eyes, Rei sighed and took the napkin to his shirt, sweeping the crumbs onto the floor which he would have to take a broom to immediately following Nagisa’s leaving. Amused by the act, Nagisa leaned his face closer to his.

“Do I have frosting on my face?” he asked innocently, “Could you clean that off, too?”

Rei’s hand began to lift the napkin to the corner of his lips automatically, where of course he had a bit of vanilla frosting smeared. Suddenly, he registered the thought of touching Nagisa’s lips and tossed the napkin at him instead.

“N-No, you’re not a child,” he stammered, “Clean your own face.”

Nagisa pouted as he picked the crumpled napkin out of his lap and wiped his lips obediently. Come to think of it, he probably should have just humored him and wiped his face off during a time like this. It was something he would have to consider eventually. Speaking of which, with the cake out of the way, now was his chance to bring up his topic. But how to do it without abruptness would be another task entirely. He cleared his throat, trying to think of something.

“Um… sorry I didn’t ask when you came in, but how are you, Nagisa-kun?”

It wasn’t the worst thing he could have asked in that moment, but there were definite awkward undertones that made themselves unmistakable as Nagisa expressed slight confusion. Clearly, this was off to a bad start.

“I’m… okay,” he said, “Why are you asking me that now?”

“I was just trying to ask how you were,” Rei said, trying to sound offended so that his humiliation wouldn’t show.

“Oh,” Nagisa said. He looked off momentarily before turning back to Rei suddenly, his face lighting up, “Ah! I forgot to tell you! There’s a new movie at the cinema I’ve been dying to see! It’s a horror film, so Mako-chan and Haru-chan are out by default, but you’re okay with scary stuff, so maybe the two of us could go together sometime!”

It wasn’t that Rei was okay with scary things. In theory, creatures such as ghosts and zombies were illogical and impossible, so he had nothing to fear as far as those went. More than anything, the reason he hated these sorts of movies was due to the disgusting forced gore and poor decision-making skills of the main characters, and, while he didn’t like to admit it, the tense atmosphere of the movie and theater made him jumpier than the movie itself. But physically exposed to the unknown, especially if he was faced with them in a sketchy environment, like the abandoned rest house on the island where they had trained during the school year, he felt nothing less than fear. He kept himself collected well in front of others. Better than Makoto, for certain, but he wasn’t as apathetic towards horror as Haru. This, he knew Nagisa admired in him. 

“Sure,” he said, “What’s it called?”

“ _Soul Reaping._ ”

_Ugh._

“That sounds incredibly terrible,” Rei said flatly.

“Right? Isn’t it great?!” Nagisa asked excitedly with starry eyes, bouncing up on his knees, “It’s supposed to have a ton of fake gore in it too, so you know it’s gonna be good!”

Grimacing, Rei turned back to the table, straightening the used plates, empty drink containers, and empty cake box into a neat pile to take to the kitchen. Nagisa continued to enthuse about the movie from the other room, going into explicit detail about some of the gruesome scenes described in online forums by amateur reviewers, further deterring Rei from wanting to accompany Nagisa to this abomination of a film. Of course, he would suck it up and go to please him, but he was still planning escape routes before a date had even been set. Just as he set down the dishes in the sink, it occurred to him that they had strayed from the point of the conversation again. How did that even happen? How had he lost focus on the one task he had to the whimsy of Nagisa’s constant subject changing? At least it had redirected from his erroneous lead-in, but there had to be a way to take control of the conversation from here.

Rei straightened himself and returned to his room with a puffed chest. Meanwhile, Nagisa had moved on to rambling about his interest in the movie since the teasers went up online the year prior. As his talkative friend took a moment to breathe between sentences, Rei spoke up quickly before the chance would be lost again.

“U-Um…!” he started, “I-Is there perhaps anything else you might like to do when we see the movie? We could make an entire day out of it!”

“That’s a great idea!” Nagisa exclaimed, “There’s a lot we can do this time of year. We can finally hang out somewhere besides your place! Oh, speaking of which, Rei-chan? I haven’t seen your mom around today. Is she out?”

Rei didn’t answer right away. Redirected again?

“Both of my parents, actually,” he said, “They’ve decided to take a vacation for the remainder of the summer, and I’m in charge of the apartment until they get back.”

“They didn’t take you with them?”

“No. I requested to stay home so that I would have more time to study and practice swimming with the rest of you. Besides, they hardly ever have time alone together anymore. I thought it would be good for them to have a sort of second honeymoon.”

“Ahh, Rei-chan’s so thoughtful.”

“N-Not really…”

“I wish my sisters were on vacation too. Unfortunately, they’re all still home with my parents and me, and they’re bossing me around and picking on me a lot.”

“Picking on you?”

“You know, taking my swimsuits and switching them out for theirs, saying mean things, being nosy…”

Rei felt saddened suddenly, hearing what Nagisa was dealing with at home. He hadn’t yet met Nagisa’s older sisters, but the little he had heard about them led him to believe Nagisa put up with their rough play on a regular basis. While he didn’t have this sort of relationship with his older brother, he felt empathetic. He already knew Nagisa saw his apartment as a sanctuary, but perhaps it would be better to open it up to him more as a home.

“Y-You know…” Rei stammered, sitting beside him again, “You’re always welcome to come over whenever you wish… Since I’m living on my own for the next few weeks, I certainly wouldn’t mind the company.”

“So, four in the morning. Got it,” Nagisa said, his tone implying he was actually making a special mental note to do so.

“Do NOT ring my doorbell at four in the morning!” 

“Three in the morning, then.”

“No!”

“How is it ‘whenever’ when you’re telling me not to come over?”

“I assumed you would choose acceptable times or eleven at night at the latest!”

“Eleven at night it is.”

Rei placed his hands over his face and sighed. It was absolutely like Nagisa to enthusiastically take him up on these kinds of offers, even if they were to a more extreme extent than preferred. He was likely just trying to get a rise out of him, and Rei knew he should know better than to give him that satisfaction. But this was how things were. It was always harmless playful banter, and Nagisa rarely ever ended up doing any of this. And both of them knew that if he showed up at Rei’s door at four in the morning, he would let him inside without hesitation.

A gentle weight pressed against his shoulder and rubbed against it. Even behind his hands, Rei knew exactly the cause.

“But I want to come see you all the time,” Nagisa said, nuzzling him with his forehead more cajolingly, “I don’t want you to get lonely here all by yourself.”

Despite his crumbling shields, Rei refused to lose composure and faced away quickly. At this point, it would be physically impossible to look at Nagisa with him snuggling up against him. It was a gesture he’d felt from him before, though something he received less frequently than one of their seniors. All that time, he watched Haru take Nagisa’s nuzzles without batting an eye, completely unaffected by such an affectionate act. For so long, he battled with feelings of secondhand embarrassment for the behavior and a secret longing to feel it for himself. He remembered the first time Nagisa nuzzled his shoulder—the first time he’d been honored with that gesture previously reserved for Haru—how much his heart somersaulted for having been allowed this privilege, and how hard he had to stifle those feelings. Those feelings of sheer elation and never wanting it to end, those feelings of wanting to return it but just not knowing _how._ How would he ever bring himself to return something so adoring without having spoken the words? The heat burning his face could only have left behind an ugly flush that would expose him immediately. Already, this discussion had gone awry in every way. How could he properly express himself looking less than beautiful? At this point, the silence was growing uncomfortably long, and he would have to say something eventually to—

_It was silent._

“Nagisa-kun!”

At once, Nagisa stopped nuzzling him and sat up straight, taken by surprise at the raised voice. He felt bad about his sudden blurt momentarily, but remembered back from his notes to keep moving forward once he’d begun. Before he could stop what he was doing, Rei faced his body toward Nagisa and took hold of his wrists firmly. Though he intended to keep them closer to his lap, he realized quickly that his arms were locking and brought them up to the height of his chest.

“N-Nagisa-kun…” he said again, trying to retain composure.

“Rei-chan…? What is it?” Nagisa asked, “Are you okay?”

Rei couldn’t quite swallow the lump forming in his dry throat, and trying to keep his thoughts straight over the frantic racing of his heart became increasingly difficult the longer he waited. This was exactly what his studies were talking about; it would only get harder the longer he dragged this out. But even at this point, despite how many times he’d rehearsed it over the past week, he couldn’t just say it. How was he supposed to begin? Something along the lines of, “I’ve known you for a while…”

“Rei-chan-” Nagisa said, at this point visibly uncomfortable with the silence.

“No! I practiced this speech! Why can’t I remember at a time like this?!” Rei shouted in anguish, angry at himself, “All this stammering isn’t beautiful at all. It’s nothing like how I wanted it to be…”

“Eh?” Nagisa asked, “You’ve been practicing this? Can’t you just tell me?”

“No, shh!! I’m remembering!” Rei snapped, then realizing he was being short with him again and hushing his tone to something more gentle, “Nagisa-kun… I… I’ve known you for a while, and um…”

The phrasing he’d used in the rehearsals was turning into static as Nagisa put on a smile and scooted closer to him, leaning in eagerly to hear what he had to say. He wanted to tell Nagisa to give him space, but insisting upon pushing him away would be counterproductive in the approach. Rei looked at his hands gripping Nagisa’s slender wrists. Perhaps he should have thought that out better and grabbed his hands instead. It couldn’t hurt to correct something like that just in case. He let go of his wrists to place his shaking hands gently over his.

“Th-The thing is, um, you asking me to join the swim team wasn’t the only thing that changed my life.”

Uh-oh. He jumped. That part came later. What did he skip over? “I’ve known you for awhile-” “You asking me to join the swim team-”—what did he miss? Obviously, he had intended to incorporate Nagisa’s asking him to join the team into the story, followed by the great times they had together in and out of the swim meets, both with Haru and Makoto, and just the two of them. Something about giving him a sense of purpose and, when he wasn’t worrying himself sick over his well-being, being able to feel relaxed and safe around him. About the way he had changed his entire world and how he had Rei wrapped around his fing-

“Rei-chan,” Nagisa said quietly, “Are you—?”

“I’M TRYING TO MAKE THIS MAKE SENSE! PLEASE STOP RUSHING ME INTO CONFESSING MY FEELINGS FOR YOU!” Rei insisted loudly.

He let out a small squeak as he realized his slip, hardly comforted by Nagisa’s wide, sparkling eyes and agape mouth. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. He was supposed to tell him everything, everything he adored about him right then, but it was already in the open just because he panicked the more Nagisa spoke. It had to have been a combination of the sugar and his already-strained nerves that caused the slip-up. But this was supposed to be taken slow so he could communicate his feelings clearly and romantically. It wasn’t over. He could still save this. It was already out in the open at that point, so he just had to run with it.

“THAT’S RIGHT,” Rei said matter-of-factly, fully and shamefully aware he was shouting but unable to control the volume of his own voice, “I HAVE FEELINGS FOR YOU, NAGISA-KUN. YOU’RE VERY BEAUTIFUL, A-AND I LIKE YOU VERY MUCH, AND IF YOU SHARE THE FEELINGS, I WOULD BE—”

“I do.”

The response caught him by surprise, the rest of his sentence escaping him in a soft, “Eh?” Nagisa beamed back at him, cheeks and ears reddening. He took his hands away from Rei’s, throwing his arms around him as he leapt into his lap, nuzzling his warm face affectionately into his neck. In a fluster, Rei stiffened and protruded his arms out awkwardly to hold onto Nagisa back, but not quite able to bend his elbows enough to complete the embrace.

“I do share your feelings, Rei-chan!” Nagisa said with a laugh against his neck, the soft breath pattering against his skin along with the butterfly kisses from his eyelashes, “I like you, too! I think you’re smart, and amazing, and beautiful! I like you a lot!” 

Rei couldn’t believe what he was hearing. After a week of stress and anxiety-riddled nights he spent awake editing and rewriting this speech only to completely botch it, Nagisa didn’t mind at all that his confession wasn’t perfect or romantic. He was even _returning_ the feelings. What was supposed to come next? After he told Nagisa about his feelings, he was supposed to wait anxiously for his answer. But he already had it. What was the next part, again? Was something supposed to come next? He pointed his nose down to look at Nagisa as he continued nuzzling his neck, only to make contact with his fluffy blond hair. Though he desperately wanted to remember what he was supposed to do following the response to his question, the only thought that came to mind was how nice his hair smelled. It was sweet like a kid’s shampoo, like fruit or a smoothie. How was he so fixated on his hair at a time like this? Nagisa had just returned his feelings and literally threw himself at him. He was often affectionate, but never quite to this extent. Maybe Rei should have read further on the theory of relationships past the confession stage. _Oh, of course!_

“Then…!” he went on excitedly, “W-WOULD YOU LIKE TO BEGIN FORMALLY DATING ME?!”

“No.”

Rei froze. Did he just say “no?!” The heart beats that had been racing and skipping so fast had tripped and somersaulted in his chest, replacing his elated feelings with an open pit of despair. Nagisa returned his feelings, but he wasn’t interested in dating? What happened? Everything was going in a favorable direction, and yet-? What did he do wrong?

Nagisa pulled his head out from Rei’s neck and smiled at him sweetly.

“I’d _love_ to date you.”

Rei stared at him, lip trembling. He was stuck somewhere between anger for having been so cruelly toyed with and overwhelming euphoria for the positive answer. What was the proper response for that? Scolding him for being so insensitive, or smiling at what he had really said? Whatever decision Rei reached had to be made in such a way that he wouldn’t remember back on this moment with regret and embarrassment.

Naturally, he began crying as he finally managed to close his embrace around Nagisa, pulling him closer so he could sob into his shoulder.

“R-Rei-chan!” Nagisa cried, immediately guilty, “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to make you cry!”

He pulled Rei closer in attempt to comfort him, resuming his nuzzling.

“I’m sorry, Rei-chan. Don’t cry,” he said more gently, “I’d love to date you, really, I would.”

Rei’s heart fluttered. Nagisa really wanted to be with him after all; that much was genuine. Even though he had treated the situation somewhat lightly, his words were sincere. This was all just part of his personality—keeping everyone laughing and smiling. He probably knew Rei was scared out of his mind and wanted to help ease his anxiety, and he seemed legitimately sorry for provoking the wrong reaction. Maybe even _he_ was frazzled by the confession and the careless comment was just a reflex. But Rei was still justifiably mad.

“Sometimes when you open your mouth, you’re not very beautiful,” he pouted.

“Ehe, I know, my bad…” Nagisa said with a sheepish chuckle, then pressing his face to Rei’s hair firmly and whispering, “But you more than make up for what I lack.”

Rei lifted his face from Nagisa’s shoulder, peeking at him through the bits of steam on his glasses.

“You really… want to be with me…?” he asked, just to be certain they were on the same track.

“Mm-hmm,” Nagisa responded with a nod, rubbing his face against his hair.

“What made you change your mind?” Rei asked, “I mean, back then, you said you wouldn’t date me because I’d nag you all the time.”

Nagisa faced him, blinking in surprise.

“You still think about that?” he asked.

“A lot…” Rei admitted.

Nagisa was quiet, looking around a bit with a confused, yet vaguely frantic expression.

“But… Rei-chan, you already nag me all the time. It wouldn’t be any different than it is now.”

“Ah… fair enough, I suppose.”

“I know you care, though.”

“Y-Yeah.”

Nagisa smiled and wiped Rei’s cheek with his hand.

“You still want to be with me knowing your nagging will get you nowhere?” he asked slyly.

“More than anything…” Rei said, then catching the comment, “A-And I only bring up valid concerns for your safety! You should listen to me more often, especially if I’m going to be responsible for you as your boyfriend!”

Nagisa’s smile transitioned back into a grin as he laughed, throwing himself against Rei’s chest once more and nuzzling at him harder as he squeezed him tightly. 

“Rei-chan’s my boyfriend!” he cheered happily.

For the first time, Rei processed the word as Nagisa said it aloud. _Boyfriend._ The title coming from him was brimming with warmth and affection, bringing a smile to Rei’s lips. He tightened his hold a little, burying his face into Nagisa’s hair as he brought a hand up to stroke it gently. His wavy, golden mop was even softer than it looked. Now that he thought about, it definitely smelled of strawberries. If not for the physical impossibility of the duration, Rei would have held him like this forever.

“Hey… Rei-chan?”

The voice was notably quieter than it had been before, and Nagisa’s fingers had curled tightly against the fabric of his shirt. His hold tightened, and his face nuzzled him more slowly and meaningfully.

“We’re gonna have a lot of fun together, aren’t we?” he asked, softly but filled with excitement, “I can’t wait to go on dates with you…”

A grin made its way to Rei’s face at the notion of spending entire days with him, following carefully detailed schedules that would grow more elaborate as time went on and they grew closer. Being able to make Nagisa happy with thoroughly-studied and perfected romantic gestures, and showering him with all of the affection he deserved, each time being able to witness that beautiful smile of his; he looked forward to all of it. Slowly, he nuzzled Nagisa back, flatting his palms against his back and rubbing him affectionately.

“I can’t wait either,” he responded.

His eyes flashed open as the words left him, suddenly taking Nagisa’s shoulders and pulling him away to face him.

“Wait, what am I saying?!” he cried, “We can go on a date tomorrow! I-I mean-! Would you accompany me on a date tomorrow?!”

Briefly stunned by the abrupt request, Nagisa’s smile and blush were only slightly delayed.

“I’d love to!” he laughed.

Rei grinned, taking a hand away from Nagisa to wipe his eyes. After the several hiccups in his plan, this was going like a dream. All that was left was to court him with a date that was also like a dream. But in order to do that…

“Th-Then…!” he stammered clumsily, “W-We should probably turn in early tonight so we’re ready for tomorrow!”

Nagisa appeared confused by the dismissal.

“Eh? But, Rei-chan, I just got here,” he said, “It’s only three o’ clock.”

Rei clammed up in his embarrassment. What was he thinking? 

“A-Ah, you’re right…” he said, “S-Sorry, I guess I—”

“That’s okay,” Nagisa said with a smile, sliding out of his lap, “It’ll take me some time to get home, and I wanna make sure I’m completely rested and ready for our date!”

So he was willing to leave early after all. Maybe it was for the best, since trying to spend time alone together after a confession of feelings might make things between them a little awkward. 

“So… where should we meet?” Nagisa asked.

“I was thinking downtown,” Rei said, “Where we meet when we go to shop for swimsuits.”

“That sounds like a good place. What time do you want to meet?”

“How about eleven in the morning? That way the shops will be open, and we’ll both have ample time to get there and be ready for a full day.”

Nagisa grinned.

“A full day, huh?” he asked, “I guess I really do need to make sure I’m rested.”

He stood and helped Rei to his feet so they could walk to the front door together. All the while, Rei noticed how much quieter Nagisa had become since his confession. While it unnerved him a bit, he remembered during moments when Nagisa expressed some of his deepest, most honest feelings, that he was considerably toned down from normal. If he had figured this correctly, the change was not a cause for concern, but actually a very comforting sign. Maybe he really did harbor the same feelings for Rei. The thought alone sent his heart fluttering.

“I wonder what Rei-chan has in mind for tomorrow,” Nagisa mused as he slipped on his shoes, glancing at Rei playfully.

“I assure you, I’ve left nothing to be desired,” Rei promised with a confident smile, “I’ve carefully scheduled nothing less than the perfect date for our first of many.”

Nagisa beamed, ears and cheeks glowing.

“I can’t wait,” he said softly.

Before the silence of smiling that followed grew too lengthy and uncomfortable, Rei cleared his throat.

“So… I’ll see you tomorrow at eleven, right?”

“Downtown at eleven,” Nagisa confirmed with a grin, “Got it. I’ll see you then.”

He opened the front door and stepped outside, waving a shy farewell to Rei before heading across the balcony and descending the stairs. Rei waited until he saw the top of his head disappear past the stairs level with his line of sight before closing the door. Leaning against it, he finally allowed himself to absorb the moment. It went as planned. Sort of. Aside from his horribly botched speech, he had achieved the desired results. His best friend was now also his boyfriend. Nagisa Hazuki, the pure embodiment of sunshine and innocence, wanted to be by his side as Rei wanted to be by his. The smile that had spread across his face never faded, just as the sweet taste of the cake Nagisa brought that afternoon still lingered. 

The thought jerked his head up suddenly. There was something special about today, as he had begun to realize before but never concluded. Nagisa always brought sweets for the two of them, but the flavor was usually to his own liking. The vanilla cake wasn’t with both of them in mind at all. Rei bolted out the door to catch Nagisa before he had left. Luckily, he had only just reached the ground.

“Nagisa-kun!” Rei called down the balcony, “Thank you for buying the cake! I really loved it!”

Nagisa looked up at Rei with surprise initially, then grinning as he laughed.

“Oh, I didn’t buy it!” he said, “I made it last night! It was my third try, so I’m glad that one worked out! See you tomorrow, Rei-chan!”

Waving once more, Nagisa turned on his heel and took off happily. As the distance between them lengthened, so did Rei’s smile. He covered his mouth and laughed softly. This truly was the start of a beautiful romance.

* * *

But later that evening, after texting Nagisa goodnight, the anxiety set in. Though he had hoped Nagisa’s acceptance would calm his apprehension, he felt a new pressure entirely. This date had to be perfect in every way. For the sake of their relationship, and for Nagisa’s. He deserved the best, and Rei would have to put every effort into making that happen. Now that they were a couple, it was up to him to keep Nagisa happy enough to stay. As long as he could do that, they would be just fine. Would it be so easy as that?

His phone blipped with an incoming reply from Nagisa. He reached for it and slid it open to a bubbly message.

_> Goodnight, Rei-chan~! ♡＾▽＾♡ I sure hope I can sleep 2night, im so excited for our d8 tomorrow! x3_

He had to read the text through three times before comprehending it and smiling again. There was nothing to worry about. As long as he kept everything according to plan, they would have a perfect, beautiful, and ideal relationship. He prided himself on his ability to plan ahead, and he had put together what was sure to be a perfect first date for Nagisa. Absolutely nothing would get in his way.


	2. The Theoretical Perfect First Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Preparations are in order and Rei feels that this day has been carefully and meticulously planned out to impress and charm Nagisa with the best first date a partner could ever have. One cannot plan for everything, however...

_The first date is an important event in a relationship._

_Listen to your date, compliment them, and make sure they are happy._

_Just relax and have fun with your partner. It’s only the first date._

* * *

What if something awful had happened to him? What if there was some sort of accident where, as Rei stood waiting at their rendezvous point, Nagisa lay on a stretcher in an ambulance headed to the nearest hospital? A knot caught his throat and his breakfast began attempting a getaway. He quickly snatched his glasses off and began cleaning them distractedly. What was he thinking? It probably wasn’t something so drastic as a life-threatening situation. There was no sense in getting himself worked up over hypotheticals. But suppose it wasn’t a hypothetical? He replaced his glasses and grabbed for his phone again, typing out another text frantically and ignoring the high number of typos he had made in the process. Surely, if Nagisa received it, he would understand the gist of it.

His thumb had only just pressed the send button when he heard his name called from a distance. Jerking his head up as an instinctual response to the voice, an overwhelming sense of relief washed through him as his date came stumbling toward him in a shaken state, bursting out in apologies. Even with all the mental and emotional turmoil the ordeal had put him through, Rei only released a deep breath, smiling fondly at Nagisa as he continued babbling.

“I’m really, really, really, _really_ sorry I’m so late!” Nagisa apologized, “I promise I didn’t forget, Rei-chan, it hasn’t slipped my mind even for a minute! I even planned to get here early! And I wanted to text you, but I was in such a hurry when I left the house, I forgot my phone at home! Were you waiting very long?”

“No, I just got here myself,” Rei said without a second thought.

Nagisa checked Rei’s expression thoroughly for genuineness as he panted, and once confirming it, he smiled back at his response. This was a conversation they found themselves starting with frequently when meeting up, but Rei understood what it meant to Nagisa and made sure to respond this way whenever appropriate. After all, now that they were official, this phrase would have to be customary. 

“So,” Nagisa said, holding his hands behind him to pose cutely, “What are we doing today, Rei-chan?”

Rei pushed his glasses back, smiling as he stood up straighter.

“I have the entire day planned out,” he boasted, “We’ll first have lunch at the ramen shop on the main street, followed by a matinee showing of _Soul Reaping_ at the cinema. Afterwards, I’ve allotted some time for us to travel down to the harbor in Iwatobi by train for a walk on the pier and to do some shopping from a list of highly rated shops, as well as have dinner at a place which, according to their reviews, has excellent beef bowls and seafood, and then we’ll take the train back here for a sweet treat before I walk you home to close the night.”

Nagisa’s eyes widened with wonder as he listened to Rei list the events of the day, his smile never faltering.

“Woow, you really _do_ have this planned out to the last detail,” he said, “You really meant what you said about leaving nothing to be desired!”

Rei smiled proudly. It sounded almost as if Nagisa had expected less of him, but it was clear now that he understood his intent to deliver.

“But of course!” he said, confidently flipping his hair, “Well then, we should be off. Feel free to be wooed by this date, Nagisa-kun!”

“Yay!” Nagisa cheered, “Ramen ho!” 

Before Rei even had time to blink, Nagisa took off ahead of him.

“W-Wait a minute!” he cried, “Don’t leave me behind!” 

After a brief moment of scrambling, he caught up with him, and only at that time did Nagisa close a fair amount of distance between them so they could walk alongside each other. Despite the delay, the date seemed like it was off to a good start. Nagisa enthused about their date in his usual animated fashion, to Rei’s content. He loved seeing Nagisa in his element, as it was where he truly came alive. It was that part of him that Rei fell for in the first place. A brief breeze passed through them, catching Rei’s attention. At that moment, whatever Nagisa rambled on about was drowned out. A very sweet scent wafted from his direction, unmistakably a perfume of sorts, twined with a rather potent version of the strawberry scent from the previous day.

Just then, Nagisa cut his sentence short, taking notice to Rei’s fixation.

“W-What?” he asked, his voice tight with recognizable self-consciousness, “Why are you staring at me like that?”

Rei frantically went back to his mental notes for assistance. ‘Compliment your date.’

“N-Nothing bad!” he stammered, “It’s just… you smell nice.”

“I smell nice?” Nagisa repeated, a blush faintly tinting his cheeks, “Oh. Actually… my sisters sort of knew about my date with you today, and they ambushed me on my way out the door and attacked me with some of their perfumes. They said they were trying to help me come off more attractive to you, but I thought you wouldn’t like it if I had so many different smells, so I tried to wash it off in the shower. That’s why I was so late meeting with you…”

His eyes shifted to his feet as he spoke, the expression on his face darkened with shame and disappointment. Was he really that upset over being late? He had said he had been looking forward to it, and his apology was so unusually extreme that Rei was left with no other choice but to believe that it was true. It was clear that his mistake was hurting him greatly, and that he felt responsible for the late start. If anything, it was up to Rei at this point to redirect him from blaming himself for his sisters’ actions. 

“It smells like strawberries…” he said, “That’s not your sisters’ is it?”

“No…”

“I like it. It suits you well.”

Nagisa’s face reddened at the comment before he looked to the side suddenly.

“Ah! We’re passing the ramen shop!” he shouted, making a sharp turn to the right to approach their destination.

Why the redirect? Was that wrong? Rei paused only for a moment, troubled by the failure in his flattery. Maybe it was impolite to compliment Nagisa’s smell. Perhaps next time, he should compliment him differently. He hurried after Nagisa to avoid being left behind again. 

* * *

The savory scent of broths, spices, and fish cakes drifted in their direction as they stepped in, working up a bit of an appetite Rei didn’t have before entering. There were few customers, since it was before the rush hour, so it didn’t appear there would be much of a wait. Nagisa immediately began scoping out the pictures from the menu, marveling at each of the dishes a little more as he went on.

“Wow, everything looks so tasty!” he exclaimed.

This fueled Rei with a bit of confidence as his date deemed his choice acceptable. With food, it was hard to go wrong with Nagisa, but it was still comforting to know he would be bringing him happiness through his own carefully selected choice of restaurant.

“Lunch is on me today,” he said proudly, “So, order anything you want.”

He immediately regretted the words as they carelessly rolled off his tongue, and Nagisa looked to him eagerly with a twinkle in his eye.

“Well, then in that case—” he started.

“Perhaps I should rephrase—any _one_ thing,” Rei clarified, glaring at him.

“Ehhh? But Rei-chan, I’m starving…” Nagisa whined, “I had to skip out on breakfast this morning because of my sisters.”

“You really shouldn’t overeat since we’ll be in such a hurry today…” Rei murmured, feeling himself caving in compassion for Nagisa’s empty tummy, “I don’t want you getting sick. One ought to be enough.”

“Four.”

Was this really turning into a negotiation? Nagisa’s lower lip pouted and he frowned, not in the slightest coming off intimidating, however crumbling Rei’s stubborn front even further.

“Two,” he responded firmly, stiffening his posture to make himself appear more authoritative.

“Three,” Nagisa said, straightening his back and puffing his chest out to match Rei’s while using a voice that was clearly meant to mimic his.

Despite himself, Rei let out a soft laugh, to which Nagisa pouted harder. He could no longer fight against such insistence.

“Fine,” he chuckled, “Three it is.”

There was barely a transition between Nagisa’s pout to his big, shining grin. As he rattled off his top three choices to the chef behind the counter, Rei discreetly peeked into his wallet. There was a fair amount of money he had carefully saved inside, though this lunch was going to dent it substantially, leaving enough for the movie tickets, but little for concessions and for spending at the harbor, and even less for dinner and ice cream. Rei took a deep breath and sighed it out evenly. They could manage a decent date with these savings, assuming all went right. He would just have to make inexpensive decisions for the rest of the day. No sweat. 

* * *

Though the shop was mostly empty, they took a seat at the back, where they could speak without worrying about others overhearing their conversation. For the first few minutes of their lunch together, the only sounds were the uninterrupted slurping of noodles from Nagisa’s side of the table. The sound itself was a bit grating, but Rei enjoyed seeing Nagisa happily guzzling down his food. Only after Nagisa had inhaled the broth and all of out his second bowl did Rei hear him take a breath.

“Is it good?” he asked, knowing the answer already.

“It’s delicious!” Nagisa exclaimed, “I can’t wait to try the beef!”

“Try to eat it a little more slowly, Nagisa-kun… We have plenty of time before the movie.”

“You worry too much! I’ll be fine.”

Despite the nonchalant response, he took a single bite out of the next bowl and chewed it for awhile, to Rei’s surprise. Since when did Nagisa listen to his ‘nagging’? Still, the lack of conversation following was concerning. Dates weren’t supposed to be this quiet were they? Even out and about, Rei was used to seeing couples engaged in conversation. By the time Nagisa was most of the way through his last bowl, the silence was beginning to weigh on Rei’s mind more heavily. He picked at the vegetables in his bowl awkwardly, trying to find a way to break the silence.

Suddenly, Nagisa spoke up.

“So, um… I’m kinda surprised you asked me out.”

Rei’s head snapped up from his bowl and directed his attention toward Nagisa. He blushed a little at his food, his chopsticks hovering over it. This was crashing. He needed to fix it immediately.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for this to be uncomfortable,” Rei started, “I really intend for today to be fun, I’m just—”

“No!” Nagisa interrupted quickly, “I didn’t mean that! I meant… I’m surprised you have feelings for me, too…”

This was a more direct conversation than he expected, but one he was more than willing to address.

“You mean-? You had difficulty coming to terms with your feelings for me as well?” Rei asked.

“’As well?’” Nagisa asked, his lips pouting slightly while his tone was faintly offended.

The guilt panged around in his chest like an angry wasp.

“N-Not that-! I-It’s just-!” Rei fumbled over his words helplessly, drowning in his panic, “I-I-It’s not because it’s you! It’s just that-! You know-!”

“I’m a boy?”

Rei went silent as Nagisa finished his statement, sparing the speechless one a smile.

“It’s okay, Rei-chan,” he said, “This wasn’t anything new to me when I fell for you, but if it’s new to you, then you must have spent a lot of time coming to terms with those feelings.”

“Well…” Rei murmured, sipping his drink, “It’s not just so much the fact that you’re a boy as it is… that I fell in the first place. I never really looked at anyone before the way I see you, so I suppose it just took me by surprise when I finally realized I was feeling something so illogical.”

“Illogical?” Nagisa asked, “You don’t think love is beautiful?”

“Absolutely not,” Rei stated, “Being so head-over-heels for another makes one lose their sense of self, do uncharacteristic things, and fumble all over themselves. It invades every single thought, even dreams, and never lets you forget how miniscule you feel around that person, and how you constantly have to prove your worth in order to appeal to them. And for what? To never feel reassured? Yet you strive to appeal, and the cycle continues in sickening redundancy. Performing the same task repeatedly and expecting different results is most certainly not logical, nor beautiful.”

“So what made you decide to ask me out then, if it’s so illogical? Isn’t that pretty illogical?” Nagisa asked.

“Anything can be broken down into theory,” Rei said, sitting up straighter to adjust his glasses with a proud smile, “Even with there being as many variations and flexibility in love, I’m certain I can boil it down to a science that is sure to make itself clear to me as our relationship progresses.”

“You’re melting my heart, Rei-chan,” Nagisa cooed in a mocking tone, stealing a bit of pork out of Rei’s bowl and popping it into his mouth, continuing to speak through it, “Besides, you’re so unfortunate that you fumble all over yourself all the time anyway. That’s hardly uncharacteristic…”

“Don’t say unnecessary things like that!” Rei complained, then more softly, “I didn’t mean for it to sound like I’m only studying a relationship to understand it. I guess… if anything, I’m studying it to make myself suitable for you. What I feel for you is unfamiliar, but very real and very strong. I already tried keeping it to myself, but that wasn’t enough. I just… I want to make you happy. Even if you didn’t return my feelings, I still would have done anything to make you happy. I’ve fallen victim to everything illogical about this already, haven’t I?”

Nagisa had taken his attention off of his beef bowl, watching Rei quietly as he spoke.

“You don’t have to make yourself suitable,” he said, “Rei-chan is perfect for me.”

An intense blush took Rei’s face at the comment. Nagisa finished off the rest of his bowl, only blushing slightly. He had a tendency to speak his mind, as Rei had heard many times, but to say such an embarrassing thing so calmly without even a stammer left him with butterflies in his stomach. With his head down, he pushed the rest of his pork ramen towards Nagisa shyly.

“You can have the rest if you want it,” he murmured, taking a sip of his drink after.

“Yay!” Nagisa cheered, “I love you, Rei-chan!”

The sting of the water that entered Rei’s nose was present for the next hour. 

* * *

“Sold out?!”

Rei’s heart crumbled at the words. This could not be happening. How could a movie with an atrocious name like _Soul Reaping_ sell out on the first day of its release, in the middle of the afternoon no less? Nagisa let out a soft, disappointed sigh, only further discomforting him. The teller behind the glass pane bowed his head apologetically.

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience,” he said, “All of our matinee tickets are sold out for the day. We do have some available for the evening showing, if you’re still interested.”

Both looked to each other for an answer. After some hushed exchange about whether it would fit in with the evening plans or if they should see it another day, they finally settled on waiting until later in the evening to decide. Though they had a plan B, Rei’s tension wasn’t eased as they walked away from the theater.

“That’s too bad,” Nagisa sighed.

“I’m sorry,” the words fell out of Rei’s mouth, “This was a shortcoming in my planning. I hadn’t anticipated a movie would sell out this time of day…”

Nagisa looked up at him suddenly.

“It’s not your fault, Rei-chan! Today is the first Monday of summer, after all. Lots of people are going out today, and _Soul Reaping_ has a pretty big cult following. It can’t be helped. Besides, it’s not like it’s going anywhere any time soon. There’ll be plenty of other times we can go.”

He was right, of course, but Rei knew he was disappointed. This was a large portion of their first date they would have to fill in the meantime. The best thing to do in this situation was not to let his panic show. They just needed to move onto the next activity.

“W-Well… This is for the best anyway!” Rei said, “The train could always arrive late, and this will give us a bit longer to spend at the pier. There are plenty of places to go, so we’ll have time to stop by as many as you wish!”

“See? It all worked out!” Nagisa said encouragingly.

“Of course! When planning a date, one must always account for these sorts of circumstances!”

Nagisa seemed to be going along with Rei’s feigned confidence and continued to smile on their way to the station. As long as the trip to the pier went smoothly, their date would still be fine. 

* * *

The tug of the train braking jerked Rei out of the beginning of a dream. Only at that time did he realize that he had fallen asleep, with Nagisa cuddled up close to his side and drooling on his shoulder as he slept. He caught the end of the automated message repeating itself over the speaker. Perfect timing. He gently coaxed Nagisa out of his sleep so that they could depart.

Once they stepped into the new station, Rei’s eyes fell upon a sign. He pushed his glasses up, hoping to focus on the words better, but to his horror, he did not recognize the name of the station. The train’s doors shut behind them as the cars began to move away, leaving the two behind.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Rei sighed to himself.

“What’s wrong, Rei-chan?” Nagisa asked through a yawn, rubbing his eyes.

“We missed our stop. This isn’t the harbor.”

“It’s not…? But there are signs for ocean stuff all over…”

Rei’s eyes shifted around the station wall at each large poster, all of which were very nautical-themed. But…

“It’s for a wharf, not the harbor… I don’t even recognize this city’s name…”

He stared at his feet, irritated. Now they would be spending extra time waiting for a train to take them back. He had no idea how far they had strayed from their destination, but it would surely set them back again.

“Let’s go check it out!”

Nagisa spoke enthusiastically, as if he hadn’t just been asleep. He started towards the station’s exit, but Rei caught him by the arm.

“Nagisa-kun, we have no idea where we are right now!” he pointed out, “I haven’t looked into anything about this place – we don’t know what’s here!”

“All the more reason to go scope out the area then! There’s bound to be something fun around here we can do. C’mon!”

He walked forward anyway and dragged Rei along with him. Surrendering to his whim, Rei let go of Nagisa’s arm to walk alongside him on his own. If this was really what he wanted, it would be in Rei’s interest to humor him.

The distance from the station to the wharf was fairly far, about thirty minutes by foot. Though the grassy, hilly scenery was nice, it was spoiled by the heat of the midday, summer sun blazing down upon them. When they neared the ocean, they were greeted by a cool, salty breeze.

“Ahh, that feels good,” Nagisa sighed, spreading out his arms to take it in as much as possible.

He turned back to face Rei as they walked, and before anything left his mouth, Rei could sense one of Nagisa’s capricious ideas in the works.

“Hey, Rei-chan,” he said, “Let’s just spend the day at the beach! We can go swimming in the ocean, and collect beautiful shells and sea glass, build a sandcastle, watch the—”

“We’re not prepared to do any of that,” Rei said with a chuckle, also growing anxious about straying too far away from the original plan, “We don’t have our swimsuits or anything to carry shells in, or tools for constructing proper sand castles.”

“We don’t need any of that stuff,” Nagisa said, “We’ll just get in the water with our clothes on, and we can carry the shells in our pockets.”

The idea of being stuck in wet clothes the rest of the day was less than desirable, and this would require heading straight home afterwards. Not only that, but they would have to board the train that way, soaked, reeking of sea water, and gritty with sand. Nagisa really didn’t seem to be thinking this through at all.

“Let’s just stick to the wharf for today,” Rei said gently, “We can go to the beach another time.”

Nagisa’s smile withered.

“Okay,” he said, then lightening up a little, “I can’t wait to see what it’s like! I hope they have good food, ‘cuz I’m kinda getting hungry…”

The brief pause caught Rei’s attention. Even with his perfectly sound reasons, was it right to veto Nagisa’s suggestion? He didn’t appear terribly hurt, but… Rei decided he would have to make it up to him at a later time. 

* * *

Savory and salty scents drifted from so many directions. The voices of the bustling crowd at the pier blurred into a single incoherent buzz that drowned out the crashing of the waves. Rei was overwhelmed by all of the different senses to take in, but Nagisa was raring to go. He would have to pull it together for the sake of their date.

“This looks fun!” Nagisa said optimistically, “Come on, let’s look around.”

He offered Rei his hand. How brazen, Rei thought. He cleared his throat.

“Stay close to me,” he said simply.

Nagisa shrugged and lowered his hand to his side again. With Rei leading the way, they stepped into the busy stretch of the wharf. In that moment, he felt ill at ease. His eyes followed the shops warily, finding mostly cheap souvenir and novelty stores. Nothing particularly caught his eye, aside from the restaurants he would have to keep in mind for later. The food would have to save this trip. He stopped walking for a moment to take note of the aromas coming from each establishment, noting the most appetizing scents. A number specialized in fried foods, which he wanted to avoid, though the cost could be considerably cheaper. On the way, Nagisa had mentioned he was hungry, so it would be best to stop some place to buy him a snack.

“Well, Nagisa-kun,” Rei spoke loudly, “What sort of food are you—”

But in the time Rei had turned away, Nagisa was gone. Frantic, he began whipping his head around, looking past the crowds of people to find Nagisa, but in vain. How could they have already gotten separated? Maybe Nagisa was right to want to hold Rei’s hand. Even if it was in a public setting, it could have prevented this. Now what was he supposed to do? Nagisa didn’t even have his cellphone on him, how was he supposed to find him among all these—

“Here you go, Rei-chan.”

Rei turned around quickly to meet a waffle cone of a rather large heap of blue ice cream with colorful candies on top at his nose, and at the end of it was Nagisa holding a second in his hand. Simultaneously with the relief that washed through him, Rei felt the onset of annoyance.

“Don’t just leave me standing in the middle of a crowd without warning!” he pouted loudly, “Where did you go?!”

“I just went into the ice cream shop,” Nagisa said, gesturing toward the building behind him, “The sign said they were famous for their bubblegum ice cream, and there wasn’t a line, so I thought we might put it to the test!”

“Sweets again?” Rei asked, still irate.

Of course. He’d intended for them to stop for ice cream after dinner. Asking for that much to go smoothly would be expecting the world apparently. A cold sensation took his nose as Nagisa pressed the frozen cream to it in a quick motion, all the while wearing a smile.

“Don’t start nagging until you’ve tried it,” he said, “Hurry and eat it before it melts.”

Rei accepted the cone from Nagisa bitterly, unwrapping the napkin that had been curled around it to wipe his nose off. He stared at it unsurely, put off by the bright blue that was no doubt the product of heavy artificial coloring. The candies on top were likely bubblegum balls, if he understood correctly, which would probably be solid due to the frozen state of their vessel. Why did Nagisa choose this? Hesitantly, he looked to Nagisa, who stared up at him with wide, eager eyes. If it would make him happy, Rei would indulge him. Besides, he paid for it. At this point, it would be rude to refuse it. Taking in a breath, Rei brought the ice cream closer and gave it a little lick, and only at that time did Nagisa do the same with his. The sweet cream flowed down his tongue evenly, strongly flavored of artificial bubblegum. Yet…

“This is incredible…” he said quietly.

“It’s really good!” Nagisa announced more enthusiastically, going back for another lick.

Despite his previous grievances, Rei went in for another as well, taking more of the ice cream and a gumball. The ice cream was still delicious, but the gum was hollow, leaving behind a stringy, flavorless mess that lodged itself in the grooves of his teeth. Nagisa also displayed a grimace.

“The gum’s a little gross, though,” he admitted, picking at his teeth and pulling out tiny strands of white.

Awkwardly, he looked at his feet.

“Sorry…” he said, “The gum is weird, but the ice cream is still tasty, right?”

Rei smiled.

“Right,” he said, then holding out his napkin, “Here, pick out the gum and I can throw it out so we can enjoy it uninterrupted.”

Nagisa beamed up at him before plucking the gum out of both cones and placing them in the napkin. Once the unpleasant pieces had been taken away, the rest was very enjoyable.

The next few hours of the date were nice and leisurely. Further down the stretch were a series of tables and booths where vendors sold various foods and handmade crafts. Nagisa made sure they stopped by every single one to browse, and he admired each product happily. Rei also found a number of beautiful items, which Nagisa shared in his wonder. Many times, Rei offered to buy Nagisa things he appeared interested in, but he politely declined all of his attempts. When Rei stepped aside to take a closer look at a vendor’s line of meticulously assembled jewelries, Nagisa approached him and took his wrist, fastening a simple, but pretty seashell bracelet to it. Afterwards, he flashed his own wrist to show off an identical bracelet with a grin. Rei was briefly mortified that Nagisa spent money on him when he was the one who was supposed to be paying for things, but seeing Nagisa so happy to have bought them matching accessories calmed him. He supposed a small purchase wouldn’t hurt anything, especially if it made Nagisa happy. As long as that was the case, he was keeping to his responsibilities well. 

* * *

By dinner, the earlier elation had faded and Rei was back to wracking his nerves. At first he thought it was fortunate all of the restaurants had exceedingly divine food fresh from the sea. Until the divinity came with a hefty expense, and Nagisa proved to be price-blind. Too embarrassed to admit he could not afford most of the food, he tried to make the cheaper options sound as appealing as possible to his date, who nodded along neutrally. When the waitress came around, that was when Nagisa ordered half the menu anyway and Rei had to speak up about his dwindling funds. To which Nagisa responded casually,

“That’s okay, I’ve got it covered.”

Unwilling to inconvenience Nagisa further, Rei still ordered lightly. During the meal, he slumped in his disappointment in himself. There was no way he would ever have the money to fill Nagisa’s stomach (or _stomachs_ , as their friends often speculated.) He clearly had to rethink the lengths and activities of these dates if he didn’t want to go broke. Perhaps packing so much into one day was excessive.

“It’s really okay, Rei-chan.”

He peeked up at Nagisa, who smiled at him sympathetically.

“You paid for lunch,” he said, “It was my turn to pay.”

“But I invited you out today,” Rei mumbled, “I should be taking responsibility for the purchases…”

“Don’t worry about it! Let’s just enjoy ourselves! Besides, you can’t get food like this just anywhere. Here, try the lobster risotto!”

He held a spoonful of the delicacy out to him, but Rei looked away from it. His stomach was already in knots, and trying to finish his own food was a struggle itself. The spoon retracted eventually.

“The view here is amazing,” Nagisa went on, “I’ve never been somewhere with seaside seating before.”

“Yeah… It is nice,” Rei agreed without looking up.

The silence from earlier set back in, thicker than ever. Now, Rei knew it was his fault. How could he let this happen? Nearly every plan he made for the day fell through. Everything he wanted to do for Nagisa—everything wonderful and perfect he deserved—resulted in failure. What kind of a start to the relationship was this? From the moment they arrived at the movie theater—

The movie theater. He had one last shot. Rei checked his watch quickly. If they caught the next train in thirty-five minutes, they still had a chance to make it.

“Nagisa-kun, we might be able to catch the evening showing of _Soul Reaping_ if we leave now!” he announced abruptly.

“Eh?” Nagisa asked, caught off-guard, “Were we still planning on doing that today?”

“We still have time, so why not?” Rei asked, flagging down the waitress for the bill, “What’s a date without tons of fake gore and one-dimensional protagonists’ terrible life choices?”

What in the hell was he saying? 

“Well… I do hear the 3D version has some great splattering scenes,” Nagisa mused with a smile as he reached for his wallet.

Oh, lovely. At least he was on board with it now.

With the bill paid and the dishes at least mostly cleaned, now began the race against time. By foot, it took them thirty minutes to the wharf from the station. With a few minutes gone from the original thirty-five, they would have to sprint. It was nothing Rei couldn’t handle, but Nagisa wasn’t nearly as adept at running as he was with swimming, which slowed the pace a little at first, but much more drastically once they headed uphill. Nagisa’s running tapered off to defeated trudging.

“Rei-chan… can we please… slow down…?” he panted.

“I’m sorry, Nagisa-kun but we can’t afford to lose any time,” Rei said, genuinely apologetic for wearing him so thin, “Come on.”

He took Nagisa’s wrist and pulled him along, and for awhile Nagisa matched pace. For awhile.

“Ah! Rei-chan, hold on!” Nagisa requested suddenly.

“We only have fifteen minutes, we have to go!” Rei reiterated.

“But I really think—”

“We can’t!”

“Rei-chaan,” Nagisa whined.

“I promise we’ll rest on the train, but we have to hurry or we’ll miss it!” Rei insisted.

Why was he being so adamant about this? He couldn’t possibly have to use the restroom again; Rei made sure there were plenty of opportunities for that so he wouldn’t be uncomfortable. Even stopping for the briefest moment could cause them to miss the last showing. They couldn’t afford to lose even a minute. Suddenly, his arm caught and he jerked in midair, halted in the middle of the path as Nagisa braked without warning.

“Nagisa-kun, we don’t have time-!”

“Would you just look?” Nagisa asked impatiently, facing towards the ocean.

Rolling his eyes, Rei decided to humor him and look out at the horizon for a moment, just to catch a glimpse of whatever Nagisa was trying to point out so he’d be able to listen to him about it on the train. But at that single glance, he found his eyes locked. The radiant red sun hovered just over the horizon, shining dancing lights upon the ripples of the ocean’s surface and casting the sky ablaze in orange. The clouds above were fluffy and cream, drifting peacefully in the calm, steady breeze. He’d seen plenty of sunsets in his lifetime, but something about this one made him stop. It made him forget completely about their next destination, about the train, and about the movie. For now, his mind was directed solely to this offering of nature’s beauty, which he had almost completely overlooked.

“They don’t stay the same for long.”

Rei looked down at Nagisa as he held his arm in his, smiling back at him.

“Sunsets change so fast,” he said, “One minute they’re there, and the next they’re gone. That’s all. I just didn’t want you to miss something this beautiful.”

Nagisa looked back out at the sunset again, and as he turned too, Rei realized it had already changed to a new shade of beauty in the moment he looked away. Sunsets were indeed ephemeral, changing in a blink. Had he insisted upon pushing forward to catch the train, he would have completely missed out on the beauty but a turn of head away. A weight pressed on his shoulder, and he saw Nagisa resting his head upon it lightly. He was content there with Rei, being able to watch the sky from where they stood. There would be no possible way to indulge in this and take Nagisa to his movie, but perhaps it was for the best. After all, this wasn’t such a bad alternative.

“Would you like to sit?” he asked.

The question caught him by surprise, but he quickly nodded with a smile and led Rei out of the path so they could sit on the ground together. He sprawled out on the grassy carpet, leaning his weight back on his arms, while Nagisa sat similarly with his arm crossing with one of Rei’s. Just as when they had been standing, Nagisa made his head comfortable against Rei’s shoulder.

The colors in the sky continued to fade over the next several minutes, lining the bottoms of clouds in bright red just before the sun sank beneath the horizon. Once the colors of sunset had disappeared, the next minutes brought in stars one by one. Nagisa was just as content watching the stars, and Rei had always been fond of them himself, so they continued to stay. Rei took the opportunity to map out the summer constellations for Nagisa, who held on to his every word in utter fascination. The warmth that grew between them the longer they sat beside each other became more comforting as time went on, making it difficult to separate when the hour grew late.

“We should probably head home now,” Rei said gently, “We don’t want to miss the last train home.”

“Okay,” Nagisa sighed, nuzzling his cheek to his shoulder.

Reluctantly, they parted. Rei stood first, offering his hand to Nagisa. He stared at it moment, then smiled and placed his hand in his. On his feet, he laced their fingers, blushing all the while. Rei never noticed how small his hands fit in his before. His lips turned slightly as he led them back on the path, keeping his pace steady. Anything to make this moment last. 

* * *

For once, the silence between them wasn’t discomforting. The rocking of the train lulled Nagisa to sleep again, but Rei remained alert to watch for their stop. During the hour-long commute, he gazed at the weary boy fondly, even as the drool soaked through his shirt again. Waiting for him at the rendezvous point seemed like days ago—no wonder he was so tired. The day full of set-backs made for a long one indeed, though a lot had been planned for just a single day. There were notable successes and failures that came up throughout the day, but it at least seemed to be ending on a good note. That was all he could really ask after everything.

The walk to Nagisa’s house seemed so much shorter than the traverse to the wharf, almost to Rei’s disappointment. They had already spent the entirety of the day together, yet it only now felt so short. Nagisa’s hand gripped his a little tighter as they drew closer to the end.

“Oh,” he said softly, “I’m sorry about the movie, Rei-chan.”

This surprised Rei, having come out of nowhere.

“N-No, I’m sorry we didn’t get around to it,” he said, “I really wanted to take you today.”

Come to think of it, why was Nagisa only expressing sympathy towards the one fall-through? Wasn’t most of the day based on failures? Or was the movie truly that important to him?

They stepped up the porch and turned to face each other. Nagisa smiled at him as he always did, charming and sweet. He deserved the world, but everything Rei could offer fell short. But had he at least come close? With a short sigh, Rei prepared himself for the worst.

“Can… I ask you something?” he asked.

“Sure.”

“Was today… Was this date… acceptable for you?”

“Huh?”

“I tried to make today memorable for you, but I can’t help but wonder if maybe you felt differently. So, be honest… what did you think of this date?”

Nagisa blinked, surprised by the question, and then put on his warmest smile.

“Today was a lot of fun,” he said, “I liked going to the wharf and getting ice cream, and watching the sunset and the stars together.”

“Y-You did?” Rei asked.

Now that he thought about it, none of those were planned, nor were they even his idea. Nagisa didn’t specifically mention anything else, meaning he was probably uninterested in what Rei had planned and disappointed in what they missed. Even after putting together a full schedule of things he was sure would mean a lot to Nagisa, it was still a C-grade date at best, based on what went as planned and how happy he kept his date. Nagisa deserved better than that, and Rei knew it.

“But…” he went on, “I liked having you to myself all day the most. Getting to spend all that time with you… Even though it was tiring, you were so determined to fit as much into the date as possible to make it fun for me. And it was! I can’t wait to do this again!”

_Again?_ Rei’s heart skipped a beat at the words and at the beautiful smile before him. 

“Although, maybe from now on we should just try to do one thing at a time, like… go to the summer festival?” Nagisa asked, a hint of shyness in his request.

“Th-The summer festival?! I-Is that where you want to go?!” Rei asked, taking mental notes and storing them away to flesh out later when he was at home, then continuing as Nagisa nodded, “Th-Then it’s settled! That’s where we’ll go for our next date! We can go in yukata like last time! Just the two of us!”

Nagisa grinned and giggled.

“You really are cute, Rei-chan,” he said, “And, um… thank you. For today. I know you spent a lot of time on it. Thank you for everything.”

Rei couldn’t keep himself from smiling. He hadn’t expected Nagisa to thank him for the date, and hearing him say so was nice. It was nice to know Nagisa appreciated the time he put into planning their first official date. He was rendered speechless, wanting so badly to respond with something as simple as an “anytime,” but only able to smile back at him. Their eyes locked, and neither spoke a word, occasionally tittering to avoid complete silence. Nagisa gazed up at him longingly, as if awaiting something else. Closure, mostly likely, Rei concluded.

“Um…” he started clumsily, “Th-Thank you for accompanying me today… I should probably, um… G-good night.”

Was that really a way to end a date? He was already turning away while wondering, so it was happening regardless. Even as friends, this seemed a strange way to leave things, but maybe under the circumstances of their young relationship it was acceptable.

“Ah, R-Rei-chan?”

The reluctant voice brought his feet to an immediate halt, and he turned back around to face Nagisa, who now held himself shyly. Clearly, he too felt they were leaving things weakly. But he said nothing either. Both wanted more, but Rei wasn’t sure what he expected of him. Surely, he didn’t mean _that?_ But then Nagisa took a few steps closer, until he was but a foot away, and tipped his head upwards, tilting it to one side as he closed his eyes. There was no mistake—he was definitely asking for a kiss good night. Rei swallowed hard, pushing his glasses back stiffly as he continued to watch Nagisa pucker. This wasn’t the plan. _This wasn’t the plan._ Rei wasn’t even sure how to give him a proper kiss good night. Should it be a brief, light peck on the lips, or something perhaps longer, deeper, and more romantic? The first kiss would surely leave a lasting impression, and if done incorrectly, it could set a poor tone for the evening, not to mention their relationship. 

But he stood there in front of him with his lips pursed, waiting patiently for his. Did this obligate him to carry through with it? He took a deep breath and lowered himself in a half-bow, just so he would be able to reach Nagisa’s lips, making careful observations about the way he had his head leaned and lips held. His head was tilted to Rei’s left, meaning that Nagisa would want to kiss with both of them tilting to their respective rights. His lips were only slightly puckered, likely expecting a kiss that would be quick. Once he thought he had determined the proper technique, Rei leaned in closer, slowly closing his eyes. He could just barely feel Nagisa’s breath against his lips. They had to be close to making contact at this point. Just a hair forward, and they would share their first kiss. The kiss that decided how well they would strive as a couple. A kiss he could never take back if he screwed it up, and a kiss he would never get back for himself, rendering his own first kiss a regret he could never atone for because it would be his own fault for not properly studying kissing techniques and attempting this prematurely, thus deeming him fully responsible for the demise of their budding—

“NOT YET!” Rei yelped, jumping back as his nose bumped Nagisa’s awkwardly.

Nagisa opened his eyes, frozen in place with a weak smile.

“Eh?” he asked, “What do you mean?” 

Rei fumbled to readjust his glasses, only making the positioning more askew as his hands trembled violently. To make matters worse, he could tell his face was some disgusting shade of red, judging by how fiercely it burned as he stammered his way into an excuse for his behavior.

“I-I-I-I don’t want to do this,” he stuttered, then realizing how heartless it sounded, “N-Not that I don’t want to kiss you, because I do, I absolutely do, and it’s very hard for me not to every time I look at you—” (What was he saying?!) “—I-I MEAN-! I JUST DON’T THINK IT’S APPROPRIATE TO MOVE SO HASTILY ON A FIRST DATE IS ALL! I FULLY INTEND TO KISS YOU, NAGISA-KUN, BUT IT CAN’T BE TONIGHT, OKAY? IT HAS TO BE SPONTANTEOUS AND AFTER A FEW DATES! AND TO BE HONEST, I HAVEN’T FULLY STUDIED THE THEORIES OF KISSING, WHICH I INTENDED TO STUDY MAYBE TONIGHT OR TOMORROW SO THAT YOU WON’T BE DISAPPOINTED WHEN THE TIME CO-”

The sound cut off in his throat at the sudden contact of Nagisa’s soft lips against his cheek, rendering him speechless and only able to stare at him as he stood flat on his feet again. He gazed up at Rei with that genuinely sweet smile he loved so.

“It’s okay, Rei-chan,” he said, “You can give me that first kiss whenever you’re ready. And I’m sure when you do, it’ll be perfect.”

Rei still couldn’t force a sound. His cheek still tingled with the soft warmth of Nagisa’s lips, now spread into such a loving smile. It really was painful to resist returning the kiss to those lips, but trying that now after his embarrassing outburst would completely annul the purpose of waiting. Nagisa’s smile again shifted into something more teasing.

“Plus, you were yelling again and I thought that might shut you up,” he smirked, “What might the neighbors think, hearing you plotting how to steal my first kiss?”

_His first kiss?_ Oh, no. _Oh, no._ That only put more responsibility on his shoulders. Nagisa had never been kissed either, meaning that this wasn’t just _their_ first kiss they were talking about, it was _the_ first kiss! Now it absolutely _had_ to be perfect! He couldn’t let Nagisa’s first kiss be anything less than perfect! He had to study as much as he possibly could. Maybe kissing on the third date would be premature after all. Maybe, on the fourth, or fifth, or thirty-seventh date.

“Um…”

Nagisa’s smile was now uncomfortable, though he kept eye contact.

“I… did something wrong, and you’re mad, so… I guess I’ll be seeing you tomorrow?”

Now Nagisa was actually becoming concerned that he was going too far with his teasing? This really was a change. But what he had done was perfectly acceptable by Rei’s standards; it just surprised him was all. He couldn’t let him leave thinking he had wronged him. Who knows if it would keep him up all night, riddled with guilt and worry that Rei would still be “upset” in the morning? And yet, his voice was mute. Nagisa finally broke eye contact to stare at his feet, gently patting Rei’s shoulders before turning around. Rei blinked and finally registered what was going on, lunging for Nagisa’s arm and jerking him back to face him. He cupped his face in his hands and stooped a bit, planting a kiss on his cheek as tender as the one he had received. Nagisa’s hands slowly slid around his wrists as he leaned closer into him, inhaling softly. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t expect his cheeks to be so warm and smooth, but the sensation was soothing. Nagisa didn’t seem to have any intentions of pulling away, so perhaps this wasn’t so bad, though it was probably longer than appropriate. Rei knew he shouldn’t press his luck, pulling away slowly and leaving his cheek without a sound. Perfect. He tilted his head, pressing his lips closer to his ear.

“I promise,” he whispered, “I’ll get this right for you, Nagisa-kun.”

He brought his face back so he could look him in the eyes, surprised by how red Nagisa’s cheeks were. Even so, he retained a grin that kept Rei’s mind relaxed despite his racing heart. Nagisa tucked his hair behind his ear shyly.

“Good night, Rei-chan…” he said.

“Good night, Nagisa-kun,” Rei responded, “Sweet dreams.”

Nagisa smiled a little wider before quickly turning back towards his porch and pushing open the front door. He lingered in the threshold, gazing back at him for a moment before stepping inside.

Rei turned back and began the quiet, lone trip back to his apartment. Along the way, he fantasized about collapsing into his bed after his nightly hygienic routine and sleeping heavily. He certainly needed a long rest after this day. First thing in the morning, though, it was back to planning out the next date. The thought reminded him that he had forgotten to tell Nagisa something important when wishing him goodnight. He would have his phone now, so he could send a text. Rei took his own phone out of his pocket and quickly typed out his message to catch Nagisa before he went to bed.

> _Thank you for today, too. I enjoyed your company thoroughly. I look forward to spending time with you at the summer festival._

He eased, knowing he had properly thanked him back. Not long after the message was sent, he received a reply.

> _I look forward 2 spending it with u 2~! ♡＾▽＾♡ I promise to be on time next time. (^◇^；) sweet dreams Rei-chan~ ( ˘ ³˘)❤_

The last characters brought a warm tingle back to Rei’s cheek, and he smiled. Nagisa gave him butterflies in his stomach and in his heart. It should have felt uncomfortable, but it wasn’t. How illogical, indeed. And yet, he knew he wanted to feel that more. It wouldn’t be easy to give Nagisa everything he deserved, but with persistence and a better knowledge of what made a perfect relationship, he would give him everything and beyond. He opened a reply and typed in a less-than symbol and the number three.

As the text sent, Rei took notice to the date displayed on the screen. An idea flashed in his mind and he hurried the rest of the way home. Though he had a few days’ time, he wanted to begin planning immediately, and his fantasy of sleep soon faded away. He promised he would get this right for Nagisa, and just maybe that day wouldn’t have to wait much longer.


	3. The Theoretical Perfect Gift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Nagisa's birthday, and Rei has spent the last two weeks making sure everything is in order. Party, decorations, attendees, food, and their second date. He couldn't possibly have forgotten anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the comments, kudos, and bookmarks! **\\(^ 0 ^)/** This is my first time uploading to AO3, so I've been kind of nervous about it, but I'm feeling a bit better with a warm welcome! This is the last of the chapters I've had written up, so from here the updates probably won't be nearly as frequent, but since I'm feeling inspired as of late, I hope to have more very soon. Again, thank you so much! And now back to our regularly scheduled Reigisa fluff~

* * *

_It’s their special day._

_Make it theirs._

_Keep them smiling and let the world revolve around them for today._

* * *

In the midst of his bustling around the morning of the big day, Rei received a call from one of his senpai. Though he felt he didn’t have the time to stop for it, he picked up his cellphone out of principle, cradling it between his cheek and shoulder as he spoke into the receiver.

“Hello, Makoto-senpai,” he responded breathlessly.

“Hello, Rei,” said the gentle, friendly voice on the other end, “Are you okay? You sound stressed.”

“I’m fine,” Rei assured him, “I’m just making some last-minute preparations for Nagisa-kun’s birthday today.”

“Oh, good! You remembered! We always do this at Haru’s place, so I was worried you might have forgotten we were having the party at yours. I was supposed to call you about it yesterday just in case, but Haru and I were out late last night looking for a present for him and it slipped our—”

The phone slid out of Rei’s hold and hit the ground. Makoto’s muffled words of concern called up to him from the floor, but Rei was too dazed to pick it up immediately. A present? Of all the things he could have forgotten, it had to be something so important that would certainly not go unnoticed. Especially as his boyfriend, Nagisa wouldn’t overlook this error. He suddenly remembered Makoto on the other line and swept the phone up quickly to apologize.

“Is something wrong, Rei?” Makoto asked.

“I… was so busy putting this together I completely forgot about a present…” Rei admitted shamefully.

“Oh. Well… I think it’ll be okay. Nagisa can be childish at times, but I don’t think he would get upset over that. I think he’ll be happy enough that you were so thoughtful in arranging his party. You put so much detail into these things, and I know he’ll notice and appreciate it.”

“But… this is a very important day for Nagisa-kun,” Rei said carefully, “I don’t want to be empty-handed if the rest of you are bringing something…”

“Well…” Makoto mused, “Rin is bringing the cake. Haru is making up some food for lunch, I’m bringing in some balloons and the decorations you suggested, and Haru and I are bringing small gifts. I’m not sure if Rin is bringing more than the cake… If it’s really bothering you, we can say the gifts we bought last night can be from all of us.”

“N-No, you put thought into your gifts,” Rei said quickly, “I refuse to take credit for something like that. I’ll have to think of something else…”

“I’m sure you’ll figure something out. You and Nagisa get along well and think similarly, so I’m sure whatever you come up with will make him very happy.”

Rei tried to take Makoto’s words of optimism to heart, but couldn’t quite set them in his mind. There was almost no chance of finding the perfect gift for Nagisa in such little time. Normally, he would start paying closer attention to what Nagisa was obsessing over at the moment and taking notes on whatever made him pause. There were things he eyed at the vendors’ tables at the wharf, but that was too far to travel and make it back in time. He sighed dejectedly, already weary with anxiety.

“Oh, by the way…” Makoto’s voice seemed hesitant. “There’s an important task we have for you…”

Rei sat up attentively.

“Yes?”

* * *

“Remind me what we’re looking for again?”

Nagisa browsed the lines of colorful produce with a disinterested gaze.

“Jicama,” Rei said, “It looks like a round root or potato, has the texture of an apple, and is light in flavor.”

“It sounds gross,” Nagisa pouted.

“It’s not gross. Besides, you don’t have to eat it.”

Nagisa groaned and continued to search, though it was clear he wasn’t looking. Rei lifted his phone from his pocket to check the screen for a message from Makoto. It was probably for the best, but he didn’t exactly love the idea of being responsible for keeping Nagisa busy while Makoto, Haru, and Rin finished setting up his apartment for his party. While he agreed it would be better to have the food prepared where they would eat it, having to remain so secretive around Nagisa was proving difficult. Worse, there was no way to find a gift with him around. How was he supposed to shop for something with the recipient in such close proximity? There wasn’t anything he could even begin to consider as a gift from a grocery store. Even if they took this elsewhere, how would he be able to buy it in secret? Perhaps he could slip away during the party to come back to the store and buy whatever Nagisa showed the most interest in, within reason. No. If Nagisa noticed he wasn’t there, it could break his heart. And worse, if he noticed him return, he would know Rei had failed to buy something in the first place and it would look exactly how it was: trying to sloppily atone for an egregious error. 

Or…

There was always that evening. In fact, he couldn’t believe he didn’t consider it before. There would be plenty to chose from then, and it would be easy to let Nagisa choose whatever he wanted, since the pretend-obliviousness would be over by that point. This way, Rei could hand over his gift privately, so that however intimate it was, the moment would be shared between the two of them alone. He couldn’t have planned it better if he had tried. Perhaps there was some serendipity in this mess after all.

Just then, a short vibration tingled Rei’s hand as his phone’s screen lit up. He checked the text, which was the exact one he had been waiting for. It was time to return with the guest of honor. Finally, this agonizing task had been completed. His eyes traced the length of his phone back up to Nagisa, who yearningly gazed at a display of strawberries. Seeing this, Rei’s heart sank into his stomach. The fact that he had said nothing regarding the day to him was clearly bothering Nagisa, as much as it was bothering Rei in fact. This mundane grocery trip probably wasn’t helping anything. He couldn’t stand watching him so upset. Though he understood why it had to be him to keep Nagisa out, he hated that he couldn’t say anything to him. It wouldn’t be enough to ask Nagisa back to his apartment now. There had to be something he could do to make this less terrible.

“Do you want to pick up some strawberries?” Rei asked.

Nagisa looked up at him, surprised.

“Really?” he asked.

“Sure,” Rei said with a smile, “We can take them back to my apartment and keep them there so you have something you like to eat when you come visit. I keep meaning to pick them up for you, but this is my first chance to come to the store since my parents left.”

“Aww! My Rei-chan’s so thoughtful!” Nagisa cried, throwing his arms around Rei tightly and nuzzling him exaggeratedly, “I love you!”

Rei watched as a few housewives shuffled their carts away quickly, hiding their mouths as they exchanged what was undoubtedly scathing gossip about Nagisa’s shamelessness towards their relationship. Despite that Rei actually enjoyed the contact, he gently pushed him off as lightheartedly as he could to mind Nagisa’s feelings.

“All right, all right,” he chuckled, “Pick out whichever carton you want. Preferably a set of beautiful ones that contains as few blemishes as possible.”

“I’ll find the most beautiful strawberries they have!” Nagisa promised.

He spun around to begin examining the cartons, finally enjoying himself, and Rei let out a sigh of relief and content. Smiles certainly suited Nagisa much better.

* * *

The trip back to the apartment was peaceful, even as Nagisa talked endlessly the entire way. He swung his arms back and forth, and Rei couldn’t help but feel he’d made the right decision in insisting on carrying the bag containing three cartons of beautiful strawberries, carefully inspected by him after Nagisa picked them out. His mood had been so vastly improved and, in turn, had brightened Rei’s a little as well. He really was just like the sun.

“We bought so many, we could make something really tasty and still have some leftover!” Nagisa said excitedly, “We could have strawberry milkshakes, and strawberry shortcake, strawberry pie, chocolate-covered strawberries, strawberry jam, straw—”

“Just listening to that sugary list is making my stomach hurt…” Rei sighed.

“Aww, don’t say that,” Nagisa pouted.

He stopped suddenly and jerked his head back to Rei.

“Ah! Rei-chan, we didn’t find your jicama!”

“My jic--?”

The words cut short before Rei could slip up.

“O-Oh! The jicama! Y-You know, I think they might be out of season right now,” he said, moving on ahead quickly, “That’s probably why we couldn’t find one.”

“Out of season? That’s very unlike Rei-chan to not research something like that beforehand…”

That was true. He was really letting this fall apart, and he began to sweat.

“Well… the stores carry produce out of season all the time, it’s just strange there would be a shortage.”

“I guess that’s true,” Nagisa said, “What did you need it for, anyway?”

“Oh, just a new recipe I stumbled across online, nothing especially important…” Rei mumbled, unsure how much longer he could keep this front as they climbed the stairs of the apartment complex.

Nagisa said nothing, and though he was silent, Rei sensed he was annoyed at the notion of having been called out to the grocery store on his seemingly forgotten birthday to look for an unusual starch that was, according to Rei, intended for a whimsical recipe he wasn’t really committed to. Of course, that was not the case at all, but Nagisa had to be feeling angry at this point. Maybe redirecting this would help.

“Would you be opposed to something like strawberry smoothies?” he asked.

“Are you sure it’s not important?” Nagisa asked, ignoring the question, “We could always check at another store.”

Was he really that stuck on the jicama?

“Really, it’s no big deal,” Rei insisted, pulling his key out of his pocket and unlocking the door.

“The farmer’s market is open today, we could check there too,” Nagisa said, “Let’s drop off the strawberries and head back out!”

“I don’t really need one that badly,” Rei said, stepping inside the dark apartment.

“Aww, but Rei-chan, that’s no fair,” Nagisa moaned, following him inside, “You bought me strawberries when we were looking for something for you, so we shouldn’t just give—”

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NAGISA!”

Makoto, Haru, and Rin emerged from their hiding places with party poppers, successfully catching Nagisa by surprise, but also Rei with the lights flashing on and the sudden loud noises, causing him to jump and let out a short scream.

“What are _you_ surprised for?” Rin asked, annoyed.

Haru let out a quiet, embarrassed sigh, but Makoto chuckled as Rei struggled to calm his pounding heart. Nagisa’s mouth hung open, still trying to take in what was going on. Rei noticed his eyes become waterlogged and his lip tremble, and was about to launch into consolation when Nagisa spoke.

“You guys…” he choked, touched, “You remembered after all?”

“Of course we remembered,” Makoto said with a smile that could only be described as motherly, “We’d never forget about your birthday, Nagisa.”

“It’s all we’ve been talking about for almost two weeks,” Rin said, grinning a sharp, toothy grin.

“Rei called us up with the idea of a surprise party, and we’ve been busy planning it ever since,” Haru said, smiling gently.

“That’s why we sent him out to keep you busy while we finished up preparations here,” Makoto said.

Speechless, Nagisa turned to him with his mouth agape. Rei scratched his cheek with an embarrassed smile.

“Sorry for tricking you like that, Nagisa-kun,” he said, “I just thought you might like something a little different for a change, and everyone really worked hard to put this together. I hope you aren’t too upset.”

Nagisa shook his head, retracting his tears as he grinned.

“No!” he laughed, “This is great! For you all to put something like this together for me…”

He faced the group as a whole.

“Haru-chan… Mako-chan… Rin-chan… Rei-chan… Thank you! I love you guys!”

Rei smiled at the others, who all chuckled at Nagisa’s sweet words, looking back at Rei approvingly. He was lucky to have so many supporting and loving friends who were willing to help put together a perfect party. After Nagisa pulled them all in for a group hug, they were ready for the celebration to commence.

* * *

The party went off without a hitch. Rei couldn’t help but admire the pink and yellow decorations he had spent the morning organizing carefully, assuring there was a perfect balance of the two colors throughout the room so that the eye would not strain in any particular area. Makoto had managed to locate some penguin-themed decorations and foil balloons and added them into the arrangement tastefully. Nagisa didn’t appear to notice the balance, but appreciated the color choice and penguins and complimented Rei and Makoto both. Haru had prepared a large bounty consisting of a squid dish, which pleased Nagisa tremendously, and several mackerel-infused foods, to Nagisa’s amusement and the rest’s frustration. Rin was quick to point out that was why he put himself in charge of the cake, after the wretched experience with Haru’s chocolate-mackerel cake he made for Makoto’s last birthday. Rin’s cake was a surprisingly beautiful and delicate-looking strawberry shortcake, which Nagisa described as “adorable” and left Rin embarrassed but proud.

After eating their fill of mackerel and shortcake, Haru and Makoto presented Nagisa with their gifts. At this point, Rei felt himself getting nervous again over his lack of present. As Makoto had promised, his and Haru’s gifts were small and relatively inexpensive—a strawberry-print journal and an Iwatobi-chan pen—but clearly well thought-out and made Nagisa very happy. When Rin held out a gift for Nagisa, Rei’s worry turned very quickly to anxiety. But of course Rin would bring a present. He was Nagisa’s friend as much as Haru, Makoto, and Rei were. Rei sat uncomfortably as Nagisa excitedly unwrapped a horror-genre DVD, starting to wonder if calling himself Nagisa’s friend after this was too generous.

Nagisa suggested that the group get together again to watch the new DVD, but Makoto quickly declined, which spawned an amusing conversation about how poorly he handled horror verses how Haru handled it. From there, the topics segued smoothly past the gifts and the mood was no different than how they spoke at school, directing away from the fact that Rei hadn’t offered Nagisa a gift. Had he noticed? Of course, he probably had, but didn’t want to show disappointment. Though as the conversation went on, he gave the others in the group a noticeably greater amount of attention during the rest of the party. Was this his way of expressing his resentment?

Nearing sunset, the party drew to a close. Everyone worked together to clean up Rei’s apartment, leaving Nagisa with the entirety of the decorations in a neat pile upon request, since he wanted to keep them as a memento of the surprise party his friends all worked hard to put together for him. Haru, Makoto, and Rin set off to leave at the same time, so Nagisa made sure to thank each of them individually for their contributions to the event and, to Rei’s agony, for their gifts.

“Happy birthday, Nagisa,” Makoto made sure to tell him again, “We’re glad you liked everything.”

“We should get together again like this really soon!” Nagisa said, “I had so much fun with everyone today!”

“I think that can be arranged,” Makoto chuckled, “What about you, Haru? Rin?”

“Sounds good to me,” Haru said.

“I’m down with that,” Rin agreed, “We can meet up somewhere to eat or something next time if you want.”

“Oh! We should invite Sou-chan, Ai-chan, and Momo-chan next time too!” Nagisa enthused, “I wanna see them again! What do you think, Rei-chan?”

Suddenly being addressed by Nagisa again took him by surprise. He wore a genuine, sunny smile, dispelling all worry that he was truly angry with Rei and allowing him to breathe again.

“I think that’s an excellent idea,” he said warmly.

The group briefly discussed their plans a bit until their seniors had to leave. Rei and Nagisa saw them off from the balcony, waving to them down the street. Once the three had made a fair distance from the apartment complex, Nagisa looked up at Rei with a sweet smile.

“Am I staying here with you, Rei-chan?” he asked hopefully.

Rei smiled back. Now that they were alone together, it was time to set his own plan into action.

“Actually, I sort of had something else in mind,” he said, then continuing quickly out of fear that Nagisa might express disappointment, “Would you like to go out on our second date?”

“Tonight?!” Nagisa asked eagerly.

“Yes, tonight,” Rei responded with a chuckle, “But on one condition: you have to meet me down there in an hour fully dressed in yukata.”

Nagisa’s smile widened as he understood.

“Really?” he asked.

When Rei nodded in response, Nagisa threw his arms around his neck.

“Rei-chan!! This is the best birthday ever!” he cried, pressing a big kiss to his cheek before releasing him, “Okay, I’ll go home really quick and get changed!”

He dashed back inside to retrieve the leftover party decorations and his gifts, leaving Rei stunned and tickled by the sudden act of affection. Before Rei even had time to shift position, Nagisa rushed back outside with full arms and carefully navigated himself down the stairs.

“See you at the festival, Rei-chan!” he called up.

Having bid him a temporary farewell, Rei returned inside to his bedroom to change into his yukata. He peeked inside his wallet, carefully counting out the paper notes to make sure he had enough. What he carried had to pay for anything at Nagisa’s whim, be it food, games, or souvenirs. Most importantly, he had to make sure he had enough to buy Nagisa whatever he picked out as a present. As a precaution, he stuffed a few extra yen inside from his reserve funds, totaling a higher sum than what he brought on their first date. Before leaving, Rei stopped at the mirror to groom his hair a bit and clean the lenses of his glasses, assuring his appearance was perfectly in order before meeting with his date. He frowned a bit at his reflection, knowing he was being ridiculous. It was extremely unlikely that Nagisa would complain about his appearance either way. He replaced his glasses and pushed them up his nose confidently. 

“All right,” he told himself, “It’s time.”

* * *

Bright red-orange lights lit the area near the shrine, where traditional Japanese music spilled out. The most potent aroma was that of the squid that was being grilled, fried, and prepared in many other ways for the festival-goers. Rei’s geta clopped against the pavement as he approached alongside many others, most of whom were dressed casually. Nearing the entrance, he caught sight of a certain fair-haired boy waiting by patiently for his date to arrive. As Rei drew nearer, he came to notice the baby blue butterfly-print yukata he wore was very unfamiliar. It was a beautiful color and design, and fit him very handsomely, enough to make Rei blush. Finally, Nagisa took notice of him and smiled happily.

“Rei-chan! “ he cheered, waving as he rushed to meet him, his geta clopping all the way, “You made it!”

“Sorry, were you waiting long?” Rei asked, unable to keep himself from grinning.

“No, I just got here myself,” Nagisa responded predictably, then proudly continuing, “I made it on time today! And I remembered my phone and everything, so I’m much better prepared than last time!”

“Well done!” Rei praised, then glancing up and down the garment, “Is… that yukata new? I don’t believe I’ve seen you wear that before.”

“Yep!” Nagisa said with a nod, “This was my birthday present from my sisters! They all chipped in to buy this one special for my next date with you, which ended up being today, so it was great timing!”

He struck a magnificent pose, showing off for his boyfriend without shame.

“What do you think, Rei-chan?” he asked, winking flirtatiously.

Rei beamed. Even acting so full of himself, Nagisa was nothing less than adorable.

“I think it looks very beautiful on you, Nagisa-kun,” he said.

Nagisa’s smile struggled and he withdrew his stance into something more timid, his face flushed. 

“A-Anyway…” he stammered, trailing off.

‘Anyway?’ Why was he brushing off Rei’s compliment again? Suddenly, he straightened and went back to his usual self as if nothing had been said at all.

“What are we waiting for?” he asked, “Come on, Rei-chan!”

Nagisa grabbed Rei’s hand and dragged him along as he bounded into the festival. Rei struggled to keep up with the erratic pace in his shoes, but was still pleased to see Nagisa as enthusiastic and ready for this adventure as him. The real date had begun. Now was the time he needed to keep his eyes open.

* * *

The first half hour, Nagisa was solely drawn to the food booths. He kept Rei plenty busy ordering food from the vendors, sometimes for two, and Rei volunteered to carry most of the purchases Nagisa didn’t have a free hand for, which proved rather difficult. However, Nagisa took the responsibility of offering Rei food until they found someplace to sit down. Most of Nagisa’s food ended up offered to him following a bite of his own, which Rei went along with cooperatively, though making sure to keep his own bites small to leave Nagisa with plenty. 

He took the opportunity to glance around the surrounding booths from their table, in search of something that might catch Nagisa’s eye. Since it would be his first gift as Nagisa’s boyfriend, it had to be something _really_ special that Nagisa could cherish forever. Surely, the festival would have something that would interest him.

“Is something wrong?”

His eyes went back to Nagisa, who now appeared a bit concerned. Zoning out and ignoring his date was probably not the way to do this.

“No, I’m fine,” Rei reassured him, “Just trying to decide what we should look at once we’re done eating.”

“You didn’t order much food for yourself…” Nagisa observed, his brow furrowed, “If you’re worried about the money, I brought some. I can buy you some tempura if you want.”

“You shouldn’t have to buy anything on your birthday, let alone something for me,” Rei said stubbornly, “Besides, I ordered plenty for myself.”

As if he’d said nothing at all, Nagisa held out the partially-eaten chocolate banana on a stick in his hand to Rei’s lips.

“Here,” he said, “Have some, Rei-chan.”

Obediently, Rei took a small bite of the sweet. It was run-of-the-mill festival food, that was for sure.

“Tasty, right?”

He looked so pleased, Rei couldn’t help but smile. His enthusiasm alone made the food taste a little better.

“It is,” he said, then offering some of his ikayaki. “Want to try a bite?”

Nagisa’s magenta eyes lit up as his grin widened, accepting the offer readily before returning back to his chocolate banana. He seemed to be having a good time at least. That much was going well.

As soon as Nagisa finished eating the rest of his food, he was raring to go scope out the rest of the scene. Keeping close together, the two walked down the rows of booths, and Rei paid extra close attention to Nagisa’s expressions for a sign of interest. The further down they went, the more he realized that Nagisa seemed to be equally interested in everything he was looking at. Perhaps it would benefit him to start making a list of points of interest while casually throwing in a few gift ideas as well.

“So, Nagisa-kun,” he said, looking out at the vendors, “What would you like to do next? It can be anything you want! We could go watch a traditional dance, or I could treat you to some shaved ice, or maybe win you a goldfish if you’d like—”

As Rei faced Nagisa to gauge what sort of responses he had to the suggestions, he met the grotesque sight of a rather large horned beetle wriggling its legs in Nagisa’s hand. Before he could stop himself, Rei let out a shriek that drew some attention, leaping backwards from Nagisa’s new little friend.

“WH-WH-WHY ARE YOU HOLDING THAT?!” he screamed.

“I picked him off of your back,” Nagisa responded like it was nothing, “He was just taking a ride. Isn’t he cute?”

“You and I have very drastically differing ideas of what cute is! It’s hideous! And what do you mean it was touching me?! Let go of it immediately!”

“Rei-chan, he’s not a stag beetle like Pyunsuke. Horned beetles don’t bite. He has cute eyes, see? Just take a closer—”

“DO _NOT_ BRING IT CLOSER!” Rei shrieked, taking another large step back.

“Ohh, are you afraid of insects, Rei-chan?” Nagisa asked innocently.

“Absolutely not, but they are not beautiful and I don’t want it touching me again! Just _please_ release it!”

Without further delay, Nagisa stepped towards a tree and placed the beetle on the trunk, waving to it as it crawled up unhurriedly. He returned to Rei with a smile.

“He’s gone,” he said simply, “You’re safe, Rei-chan.”

At that point, Rei felt the embarrassment towards his response to the situation, straightening his posture quickly and readjusting his glasses.

“Good,” he said calmly, “Thank you for picking it off me.”

“No problem,” Nagisa giggled, nuzzling his forehead against Rei’s arm, “You’re so cute, Rei-chan.”

“Don’t call me cute after calling an insect cute…” Rei grumbled, covering his face to hide the blush spreading to his cheeks.

“Aw, but butterflies are cute…”

“Are you calling me an insect?”

“You’re blushing about it, though.”

“I’M NOT BLUSHING!”

Nagisa giggled again and took his hand, giving it a tug.

“Come on,” he said, “Let’s go get you some of that shaved ice to cool you down.”

* * *

The next hour passed with no luck. Even after visiting several booths, nothing caught Nagisa’s interest enough that Rei deemed it an acceptable gift. The festival would come to a close before long, so he had until then to find something suitable. If only he had bought Nagisa a gift in the first place, this date wouldn’t be so stressful. Through the few games Nagisa participated in and the events they watched, Rei’s mind was heavy with worry. If he didn’t have anything for Nagisa by the end of the night, how was he supposed to explain himself?

The lack of presence beside him became apparent, and Rei turned around in a panic, relieved to see Nagisa had only stopped a few feet away. He returned to his side, trying to catch his breath from the start.

“Nagisa-kun, please tell me when you stop walking,” he said, “I don’t want us to get separated.”

Nagisa didn’t appear to have heard a word of what he said, gazing intently at the booth in front of them. It appeared to be a cork-shooting game, with a variety of prizes lined up on the four shelves, most of which would be difficult to budge due to their weight. Among those, on the very top shelf, was a very large, purple and pink stuffed penguin—exactly what had Nagisa’s eye. At last!

“D-Do you like that?” Rei asked, just to be sure.

“Yeah,” Nagisa said with a warm smile, still at the penguin, “He’s so cute!”

He looked at Rei confidently.

“I’m gonna win him!” he announced.

“Ah! Here!” Rei said, quickly handing him some money, “Good luck, Nagisa-kun!”

Cheerily, Nagisa handed the vendor the money and received the cork gun. It was immediately obvious how this was going to end as he leaned in holding the gun with one hand while balancing on one foot. Sure enough, the cork popped out of the barrel and hit the top of the tent, falling lifelessly to the floor.

“Aww,” he whined, “I missed.”

Rei tilted his head, pursing his lips contemplatively as his mind went to work. Of course they had set this up so it would be near impossible to knock a plush of that size from the shelf with such small ammunition, but it had to be possible. There had to be a weak spot somewhere in its balance.

“Let me give it try,” he said, holding his hand out for the cork gun.

“Rei-chan wants to try?” Nagisa asked, stunned.

“With my calculations and precision, I’ll definitely be able to get it down for you,” Rei said boldly as he adjusted his glasses.

Nagisa handed over the rifle excitedly, eyes wide in astonishment at what he was about to witness, to Rei’s absolute delight. He handed the vendor the fee before kneeling to steady his aim at the plush toy, staring intensely into its beady eyes. It was hard to ignore Nagisa’s gazing in hopes of seeing something amazing. He had almost too much faith in him. But Rei would do anything to win him that prize. He wouldn’t fail him. Holding the rifle steady at eyelevel, he lined up the barrel with the penguin. He restrained from looking through only one eye, something he’d heard was a mistake in taking aim. Lastly, he made a few observations regarding the visual weight of the target, paired with the estimated weight, velocity, and impact of the pellet awaiting fire. If he was remembering correctly from the way it fired when Nagisa made his attempt, it had a fair amount of speed, but little impact. The success of this would all depend on the penguin’s weight now. His eyes scanned the plush up and down, discerning where the balance would be most easily upset. Starting first at the bottom, he noticed a protruding head of a screw beneath the shelf. Perhaps…

Rei’s finger curled around the trigger as he exhaled evenly, lining up with his target at an angle. With a brief prayer to the gods for the shot to succeed, he fired. A click was heard from across the tent and the cork rolled across floor.

“Aw, Rei-chan missed it, too,” Nagisa sighed with disappointment.

Rei scratched his head as he stood and faced his date. He was sure he had hit the screw. If his calculations had been correct, it should have dislodged the loose screw and dropped the side of the shelf along with the penguin. What went wrong?

“That’s strange,” he said, “I swear I had—”

His sentence was cut off by a faint, strained whine from across the way, followed by a loud clatter and a few yelps from some of the other people around the stand. Slowly, Rei turned back to assess the damage, feeling his heart plop into his stomach at the sight of a pile of prizes from the three shelves below the penguin, which had dismounted themselves from the display and taken out the penguin’s as well. The vendor stared at the mess, overwhelmed. Nagisa snorted, covering his nose and mouth quickly.

“Don’t you dare laugh,” Rei said through his teeth, then bowing to the vendor as Nagisa reduced to a fit of stifled giggles, “I-I am so sorry.” 

“I-It’s fine,” the vendor assured him with a broken smile, “It was my fault for not assembling it more securely. I guess you technically did knock your prize down.”

He approached the pile and pushed away the fallen boards and goods, retrieving the large penguin to hand over.

“Congratulations,” he said more genuinely.

“Th-Thank you,” Rei said graciously, “A-Again, I’m deeply sorry.”

The vendor reassured him again, sending them on their way so he could clean up. Nagisa continued to snicker the entire time they walked away.

“Will you stop?! It’s not funny!” Rei hissed, his face ablaze in a deep blush.

This, of course, only escalated the stifled giggles into gut-busting laughter.

“IT TOOK OUT FOUR SHELVES!” he howled, “IT ALL CAME CRASHING DOWN! THAT WOULD ONLY HAPPEN TO _YOU_ , REI-CHAN!”

“You’re terrible,” Rei pouted, hiding his burning face in the plush hide of the penguin.

“I CAN’T-! I CAN’T BREATHE! OW, MY TUMMY!”

“You’re actually the worst.”

Nagisa’s laugh went almost silent aside from soft wheezes. Rei peeked out from behind the penguin to glare at him, but instead took notice to his smile. Even at the expense of his own dignity, he’d made Nagisa laugh so heartily. He brought a smile to his face on a special day, surely something he would always remember fondly. Despite his embarrassment, Rei smiled and laughed a bit with him, amused when Nagisa developed hiccups as a result. Once Nagisa had quieted, leaving only a wide grin and a quiet series of yelps, he held out the gift.

“Happy birthday, Nagisa-kun,” he said.

Nagisa beamed from ear to ear, hiccupping once before throwing his arms around Rei tightly and nuzzling his face into his chest.

“Thank (-hic-) you, Rei-chan,” he said, “I lo(-hic-)ove him!”

Rei chuckled, placing his hand to Nagisa’s head to stroke his hair back affectionately. His present was undoubtedly a success.

A loud crack caught their attention as a bright red firework launched into the night sky, blooming fully and filling the air with a smoky scent.

“The firework show is starting!” Nagisa said, “C’mon, Rei-chan, let’s go get a better look!”

Leading him by the hand and carrying the penguin in the other, Nagisa took off to the edge of the festival by the harbor, where the fireworks reflected in the ripples of the ocean below. Colors exploded all across the dark, some taking familiar shapes, all creating a breathtakingly beautiful sight. Yet, Rei’s eyes drifted away to look at Nagisa, who still held onto his hand as he marveled at the fireworks. His other arm wrapped tightly around his new penguin, which was about half his size. By Rei’s standards, this night went fairly smoothly; Nagisa was content, he had found the perfect gift, and all was well between them. He gave the smaller hand in his a little squeeze, looking back up at the fireworks again feeling a bit self-congratulatory.

* * *

The festival ended with the last of the fireworks, and the two began their walk to the train station together. They strolled slowly, their shoes clopping in a steady rhythm with the quiet nightlife. Nagisa insisted on carrying his penguin by himself, clearly struggling even with both arms, though looking at it so fondly along the way.

“I’m glad you like him, Nagisa-kun,” Rei said, contentedly watching him interacting with the plush.

“I love him,” Nagisa cooed, nuzzling his face against the penguin’s, “I’m calling him Penji-chan.”

“That’s a nice name,” Rei said, though not entirely sure where it came from, “I know you’ll take good care of him.”

Nagisa finally looked over at him, adoringly.

“You’re really amazing, Rei-chan,” he said, “You won me a penguin from the impossible cork shooting game, you took me on an amazing date, and all after planning a surprise birthday party for me. That’s incredible…”

Rei’s smile faded with his feelings of celebration. Nagisa really believed all of that. He held him so high, believing everything he did was perfect. But it wasn’t. Rei knew it wasn’t. He’d made a terrible mistake in it all, and though he found Nagisa a gift in the end, the idea that he hadn’t put enough thought into it was sort of a cop-out. After all, their other friends carefully chose things for him they knew he would love. He let Nagisa choose his own gift. Was that really acceptable? Was it really okay to let Nagisa praise him knowing he was undeserving?

“I… have a confession to make…” he mumbled.

He struggled to make eye contact as Nagisa faced him attentively with those sweet, curious eyes. It was painfully obvious that he was underestimating the seriousness of this statement. Despite that, Rei collected himself enough to come clean.

“I, um… I’d forgotten to buy you a present for your birthday. And… I’ve spent tonight looking for one for you. B-But not because I don’t care about you, it’s just there was so much to put together for your party this afternoon and our date for tonight, it completely slipped my mind! I just… didn’t want to lie to you…”

“But Rei-chan gave me a party and a fun date,” Nagisa said, “And you bought me all sorts of tasty food today, like the strawberries, and the squid, and the shaved ice, and the chocolate banana, and the—”

“I know!” Rei interjected, “But—! To forget to buy you a present for your birthday when I’m your boyfriend was completely irresponsible and I can’t accept that!”

“You won Penji-chan for me,” said Nagisa, lifting up the sizeable plush.

“But it was a last-minute—!”

“Rei-chan.”

A hand caught his gently, taking him by surprise. He looked towards Nagisa, who gazed back reassuringly.

“Today was amazing,” he promised, “This was the best birthday I’ve ever had, and it was because of you. Thank you…”

The best he’d ever had? All because of him? Whether or not he was exaggerating was uncertain, but his happiness seemed honest. As long as Nagisa had a good birthday overall, Rei’s planning hadn’t completely failed. He cleared his throat, facing down while straightening his glasses with his free hand, and tightening his grasp on Nagisa’s with the other.

“Ah…” he murmured, “That’s… good to know.”

Nagisa chuckled and walked a bit closer to his side, playfully leaning against his arm.

* * *

The date drew to a close at Nagisa’s front porch once more. They faced each other with shy smiles, hands reluctantly parting. Holding his penguin in both arms again, Nagisa let out a soft, contented sigh.

“Thanks again,” he said, “I’m glad just the two of us got to go to the festival this time. I had a lot of fun with you.”

“I’m glad,” Rei said. 

Now was the time to say his proper farewell. He cupped Nagisa’s face in his hands, kissing each cheek, his forehead, and his nose gently, each producing a soft giggle that sent his heart fluttering. Nagisa smiled up at him expectantly as he pulled away from the fourth kiss. Immediately, the onset of regret tightened Rei’s chest, worsened as visible disappointment softened the sweet smile on the his face. 

It was evident what he wanted, but what if it wasn’t all he expected? What if he was disappointed in his first kiss because Rei hadn’t studied? But maybe tonight would be for the best. It was his birthday after all, and Rei knew for certain that Nagisa wanted to be kissed by him. Leaving him disappointed after a night that should end happily wouldn’t be right. Taking a deep breath, Rei closed his eyes and leaned in towards Nagisa’s face. More abruptly than expected, his lips met a soft surface, and as he opened his eyes curiously, he found that they had met Nagisa’s hand instead.

“Rei-chan,” he whispered, “Don’t kiss me unless you’re ready.”

Rei’s eyes dropped out of contact.

“I’m sorry, Nagisa-kun,” he said guiltily, “I wish I could for you tonight, but I want it—”

“To be perfect,” Nagisa finished, smiling more genuinely, “Don’t worry about it, Rei-chan. I want you to be ready for it, too. I’m ready whenever you’re ready.”

He held up the penguin so that its face was level with Rei’s.

“You could practice on Penji-chan,” he said.

While it was usually clear whether or not Nagisa was joking, at that moment it wasn’t at all. He chuckled to himself, amused by his own suggestion, but he didn’t lower the plush again. It wasn’t like Rei could make a terrible mistake either way. He decided to humor him. Leaning forward a little awkwardly, Rei hesitantly pressed a light, brief kiss to the penguin’s soft beak. The fibers of its hide were furry against his lips, and the smell of the festival still lingered on it. It took him back to his own childhood when he used to have a plush toy that he would kiss goodnight until he had grown too old for it. At least, that’s what he told himself. Once he pulled away, he caught a glimpse of Nagisa’s blushing face just before he hid it in Penji’s back. Was that out of line?

Nagisa lifted his face so that he could peer up at Rei shyly.

“A-Actually, Rei-chan…” he stammered, “There is one more thing I’d like…”

A request?

“What’s that?” Rei asked, ready to fulfill anything.

There was a reluctant pause.

“Could you… hold me?”

The simple wish caught him by surprise. Since when were Nagisa’s requests so humble? Regardless, this was something Rei could provide effortlessly, requiring no extra planning on his part. With a gentle smile, he nodded. Nagisa smiled back and placed Penji on the porch, then stepping a little closer to allow Rei to wrap his arms around him before snuggling into the embrace. Even in the warmth of the summer’s night, Rei felt so much more comfortably warm in the arms of his most cherished friend. His nose nestled more deeply into the locks of golden hair as he pressed a kiss to his head, catching the familiar aroma of strawberry twined with a savory scent from the festival’s foods. Nagisa burrowed his face against his chest, his eyelashes batting against his exposed skin. In that moment, Rei felt nothing less than completely at peace.

* * *

At home, he sat on his bed with his open cell phone, staring into the screen anxiously. Since he had planned a surprise party, none of their friends left voicemails that morning to wish Nagisa a happy birthday, which in hindsight may have been the most damaging factor for his mood that morning. At least now that he knew why, it wouldn’t hurt so badly. Still, Rei wanted to give him the message he had expected and deserved. This, of course, resulted in him stumbling over his words as everything came out wrong and the message cut off in the middle of an explanation. He couldn’t even get something as simple as a voicemail right.

He replayed the day in his head, determining it went mostly well since Nagisa was happy for the majority of the time afterwards. Then again, there was still a moment he wasn’t. Rei’s hand lifted to his cheek, where Nagisa’s lips had touched earlier. Clearly, he sought that kind of physical affection Rei wasn’t sure if he was able to provide in his current state of ignorance. If he wanted that to change, he needed to start studying as soon and as much as possible.

A new message appeared in his inbox, which Rei opened quickly to reply with a profuse apology, only to find an unexpected response.

_ >youre adorable, Rei-chan~ (⁄ ⁄^⁄ᗨ⁄^⁄ ⁄) thanks again for today! cant wait 2 do this again! <3 goodnight! penji-chan says goodnight too! (・v・) _

“Again.” Rei loosened at the word, smiling slightly. Nagisa had such saint-like patience for his shortcomings. Releasing a sigh, he lay back in bed against his pillow, taking a few extra minutes to re-read the text over and absorb every word before closing his phone for the night. Laying beneath the covers, he was reminded of the warmth he felt from their embrace. The only thing Nagisa truly asked for all day was that gesture. Maybe simple gestures would be just as accepted as grandiose ones.

Perhaps for awhile, until he was ready to kiss Nagisa, Rei needed to approach these dates even more simply. Surely, he could find things that would still mean a lot to Nagisa that didn’t require too much planning ahead. They still had to see a movie together, and he mentioned a beach trip before, both easy dates to fulfill. The less to plan, the less there would be to fail, the easier it would be to go perfectly.

Rei let his eyelids fall sleepily, wrapping up his last thoughts. Though the first two dates had their share of flaws, failure was necessary to find success. By that logic, success would come eventually.


	4. The Theoretical Perfect Harmony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rei and Nagisa spend the afternoon at the karaoke bar. In those short hours, Rei takes plenty of mental notes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait! To be honest, this was a tricky chapter to wrangle with since it was originally intended to be a very small segment from Rei and Nagisa's first date, but was cut due to length. I needed something between the last chapter and the next, so I brought it back, but it was really difficult coming up with an entire chapter for something originally intended to be, like, three paragraphs. I did manage to make this a little more plot-rich, and had some fun with it towards the end. I hope you all enjoy it!

_After the first dates, things become more routine._

_Your nerves will fade and you will feel more at ease._

_Once you find that harmony, everything else will fall in place._

* * *

The wait didn’t take long, considering it was still early in the summer. Rei had intended for them to stop in during the first date, but found no reason to attempt showing up on the first Monday of vacation with the place crowded with drunken college students and groups of high school friends. On this day, it only took twenty minutes, giving the two plenty of time to spare since it was the only stop on the agenda. Once a booth opened up, they had it all to themselves for the next two hours for a very modest fee. Nagisa ran in giddily and plopped onto the padded seats, making himself at home.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve done karaoke!” he exclaimed with a nostalgic sigh, “Last time we didn’t even get to sing.”

“That’s because you fell asleep on my lap,” Rei pointed out, “You paid for almost an hour-long nap in the end.”

“But that’s because Rei-chan took forever to pick out a song,” Nagisa insisted, “Plus we ate too much after you accidentally ordered all that misleadingly-named food, so I was sleepy…”

Rei smiled, reminiscing about the last experience. Even though they never had the opportunity to sing and the overeating left him feeling sick, it was spending a quiet hour with Nagisa he loved the most. Being able to feel Nagisa’s head rested against him so gently and warmly, soft murmurs escaping his parted lips, and enjoying the peace of his slumber made losing feeling in his legs worth it. He hoped to experience that again, but perhaps on another day. After all, that would only be in his own interest.

“Well, I’m not going to make either of those mistakes again,” Rei promised, sitting beside Nagisa, “This time, I’ll be sure to find a proper love song on the correct menu to sing for you.”

Grinning, Nagisa grabbed the remote and scooted closer to touch hips with Rei as they went through the list together on the monitor.

“All right!” he said, “This is the list of songs for sure. It looks like a lot of stuff they play on the radio, so I’m sure we’ll know at least a few. Let’s see…”

He started rattling off song titles, commenting on a few in the same breath. Rei did his best to listen along, but eventually resorted to skimming the list on his own to look for familiar titles, finding one that stood out almost immediately. Only when Nagisa finished going through the first page did he speak up.

“I’d like to do that one,” he said, going back through the selections to highlight the title, _“Anything For You.”_

“Oh!” Nagisa exclaimed approvingly, “Good choice, Rei-chan! I really love this one!”

Rei couldn’t help but grin. An unintentional success picking a song Nagisa loved, but a success nonetheless. Now he just had to make an impression with his beautiful voice that would hopefully resonate within Nagisa’s heart and leave him with butterflies. Perhaps the best way to do this was to assure that the performance would be at its finest.

“Well then,” Rei began, thumbing over to another menu, “Should I add any effects to—”

“Nope, we’re not gonna do that,” Nagisa interjected, confirming the selection for him, “I’d like to actually hear Rei-chan sing today.”

“Nagisa-kun…!” Rei complained as the screen responded promptly to the command, “Don’t just make decisions for me like that, I wasn’t prepared to—!”

“It’s just karaoke!” Nagisa said nonchalantly, picking up the microphone and placing it in Rei’s hand as the song opened, “Hurry, you’re on!”

Rei stood clumsily and faced the screen with both hands rigidly on the microphone, holding it close to his lips in anticipation of the first line. The lyrics began much sooner than he had been ready for, yet his voice sang out instinctually to fill in vocals where they had been removed from the familiar tune. However, for the entire first verse, his singing was subdued by nerves, pressure, and lack of vocal warm-up. He steadied his focus on the words displayed upon the screen, articulating each as it came along to distract himself from Nagisa sat right behind him, listening to him with high expectations. Imagining headphones cupping over his ears made it easier to drown out his apprehensions about the audience, and eventually he fell into ease with the song. By the chorus, his voice had crept up to a much more audible volume, and based on what he heard echoed from the speakers, he sang splendidly. Not a single note fell out of his range, and his vibrato had done especially well for late morning. From then until the last note, his voice did not waver. 

As the song wrapped up, he felt so exhilarated he could soar. A lone applause extolled his performance, startling him as he became aware of his surroundings again. He had nearly forgotten Nagisa had been listening, but that only made his confidence skyrocket. He perfected that song _and Nagisa heard it._

“That was amazing Rei-chan!” he said with a grin.

“Wasn’t it?!” Rei agreed energetically, still breathless from the thrill.

“You really do sound beautiful!”

A silly grin made its way to Rei’s lips, and it was all he could do not to squirm in delight at Nagisa’s approval. He straightened his posture and puffed his chest, displaying his grace to fish for further admiration from his boyfriend.

“So, Nagisa-kun, did I do your song justice with my flawless performance?” he asked boastfully.

“Probably!” Nagisa responded back with enthusiasm greater than the word.

“Probably?” Rei asked, slumping.

“Well… I actually never heard that song before.”

Rei’s exuberance dropped a bit, confused by the conflicting and disappointing information.

“But you said you loved that song!”

“How do I put this…” Nagisa said, tapping his chin in deep thought, “I loved it because Rei-chan picked it.”

“Really, Nagisa-kun…” Rei sighed, looking away bashfully to fidget with his glasses.

“Okay, my turn!” Nagisa announced, grabbing his own microphone and scanning through the catalog.

He muttered to himself with enthusiasm as Rei eased back into the seat, watching Nagisa with a furrowed brow. How could he say such embarrassing things to him without batting an eye? And why did he pretend he had heard the song before? What an impossible person to read.

“Found one!” 

Nagisa made his selection and hopped to his feet. The screen lit up with vibrant colors as a catchy pop tune began. He faced Rei with both hands on his microphone, standing with his legs together, reminiscent to how an idol would stand on stage.

“This is called _“You’re my Favorite”_ and I’d like to dedicate this song to my Rei-chan,” he said, as if to a thousand people in a crowd, zeroing in on Rei and winking before turning on his heel to face the words as they began to highlight.

The choice was very _Nagisa_ , to say the least. The sugary sweet lyrics fit his personality well, a bit over the top and cheery. Not only did stage fright not even shake him, but he added in some choreography, sprinkling the dance with a few showy hip pops in Rei’s direction every now and then that had him laughing. He found himself most enthralled and engaged when Nagisa turned away from the monitor and the comfort of having the lyrics in view to sing to him directly. All the while, he adored hearing his sweet voice. Though the singing didn’t sound especially polished, he found it charming and lovely all the same. It was an honest, fearless voice that Rei felt comfortable with, knowing Nagisa felt just as comfortable sharing it with him. Rei admired his ease, watching the rest of his performance with a fond gaze.

At the end of the song, Nagisa twirled around to strike a cute pose meant just for him. Rei gave his performance a standing ovation, to which Nagisa took a deep, elegant bow.

“Very impressive, Nagisa-kun!” he praised, “You’re a natural at this!”

“Aww,” Nagisa replied with a grin, standing up straight again to scratch the back of his head.

“No, really! Your performance was breathtaking and every move had me captivated! I loved every single minute!”

Nagisa fidgeted and looked away, though Rei could see him glowing as he beamed.

“It wasn’t as beautiful as your song,” he said.

Rei waved away the modest reply.

“Your technique is flawless!” he said, “Everything fell exactly on beat! Was it from the music video? How long had you been practicing that routine?”

“I made it up on the spot.”

Nagisa watched the floor as he admitted it with a casual tone, missing Rei’s eyes widen in admiration. There was no prior practice or knowledge involved? Everything was improvised?

“Amazing…” he said, his voice soft with awe, “You did all that as you went along…?”

Nagisa shrugged and fiddled with the microphone.

“I mean, I like dancing, and it’s not like it’s the first time I’ve heard the song, so I just threw in some moves to the beat, it wasn’t anything planned.”

He put on a grin again as he looked up at Rei, chuckling.

“But I think I got a little too into it, because now I’m really hungry.”

Rei instinctively glanced at his watch, realizing lunchtime had rolled around already. Then again, they did get in close to noon, so he should have anticipated Nagisa would start getting hungry shortly upon arrival.

“Oh!” he exclaimed, “Well, let’s order some food, then.”

Nagisa cheered and fell back into the seat, picking up the remote again. Rei took a seat beside him and went to reach for his wallet when Nagisa leaned against him, abandoning possibly every ounce of his weight.

“Rei-chan, what do you think sounds good?” he asked, holding the remote in front of his face.

Perturbed by the obstruction of his view, Rei patiently took the device to give the menu a better look. He came prepared with a decent amount of money but intended to spend most of it on whatever spread Nagisa had in mind, so he knew whatever he ordered had to be on the cheap side. For karaoke, the prices for the food weren’t outrageous, but they would add up quickly with Nagisa’s appetite, so he would have to forgo anything pricey. He skimmed the numbers, looking for the most inexpensive entrée.

“The chicken katsu sounds like it might be good,” he concluded, handing the remote back to Nagisa.

But Nagisa didn’t take it. He pursed his lips and frowned, dissatisfied with the response. Then, he pushed the remote back to Rei.

“Try again,” he said.

“What, I don’t get a choice?” Rei asked, annoyed and confused by the rejection.

“If you could pick _anything_ , what sounds good?”

Playing with hypotheticals seemed to be a favorite pastime of Nagisa’s, and as much as it didn’t change anything, Rei decided to play along. Sighing, he took a second look at the menu, carefully searching the names of the entrées this time around. Many of the dishes appealed to his tastes, however the ones that appealed the most, naturally, had higher prices. Though, he supposed price had no place in hypotheticals, so he pulled his gaze from the numbers and focused solely on the names. He hummed thoughtfully, deliberating for a moment longer before answering.

“The Hamachi Roll platter.”

“Ohh, I should have guessed Rei-chan would go for sushi,” Nagisa said, “That’s one of your favorites, huh?”

“It is,” Rei nodded, handing him the remote again, “So, what about you, Nagi—”

Before he finished asking, the remote interrupted him with a blip as Nagisa sent an order for the Hamachi Roll platter. His heart flopped over into an anxious pace as he suddenly came to the realization of the purpose of Nagisa’s “hypothetical.”

“W-Wait a minute…!!” he cried, as if to call the order back in vain.

“Relax, Rei-chan,” Nagisa said reassuringly, “I’m buying lunch today, so order whatever you want.” 

“But I asked you on this date,” Rei protested with a weak voice as he reached for the remote, “I should be paying for this…”

Nagisa pulled back, keeping it from his grasp. 

“You paid for the karaoke, so it’s only fair if I pay for lunch,” he said.

“Karaoke was only 600 yen! It’s really no—”

Nagisa scrolled to three random entrees and tapped the remote at each one, to which Rei let out an agonized shriek.

“Oh no, I accidentally ordered all this food,” he said casually.

“You did that on purpose…” Rei groaned, burying his face in his hand.

And of course, Nagisa’s random choices were on the more expensive end of the price range. Buying lunch was out of the question at this point. As he lamented the bill, he felt Nagisa’s hip touch his. He lifted his hand to meet eyes, finding a calm smile.

“I’ve got this, Rei-chan,” Nagisa promised, “Order whatever you want, okay? It’s only fun if you eat too.”

Rei stiffened, finally understanding Nagisa’s persistence. If letting him foot the bill this time would make him happy, he supposed he could let him just this once. With a sigh of surrender, Rei took the remote again and scrolled through the list. His memory flashed to something before that caught his eye and gave him an idea on how to turn this situation around a little, and he moved down to the sweeter foods.

“They have a parfait that looks very beautiful,” he explained, pausing on the selection to show the picture of the six-layered dessert of pastel colors.

“Ooh!” Nagisa exclaimed, “It’s really pretty! I’ll bet it’s tasty, too. Do you want to get that?”

“It looks like a rather tall glass, though, doesn’t it? I couldn’t possibly finish it on my own,” Rei said, and then with a coy smile, “Would you be willing to help me eat it?”

A wide smile spread across Nagisa’s face, the delight at the suggestion filling Rei’s heart with warmth. Flawless execution.

“I’d be happy to!” he chirped, “As long as you help me finish all the food I ordered!”

Rei nodded in agreement and made his selection before handing Nagisa the remote to pick out their drinks.

* * *

The food and drinks came out as promptly as possible, considering the amount prepared, and filled up the entire space of the small table before them. As promised, they divvied up the food between the two of them and ate whatever they offered each other. Before long, however, Rei felt himself slowing down and staring at a great deal of leftover food reluctantly. Nagisa managed to keep it up a little longer, but eventually took a break as well.

“I think we bought too much food again,” he chuckled, taking a sip of his strawberry crème soda.

“Still, it was less than last time,” Rei said, leaning back against the seat, “Let’s not push ourselves too far, though.”

Nagisa replaced his drink on the table and sank back in his seat like Rei, sighing contentedly.

“That was good,” he said dreamily, “I’m glad you got that parfait. It was my favorite part.”

Rei smiled, pleased. He had suspected as much, judging by how his face lit up when he accepted his first spoonful.

“Mine too,” he said, “We should order it again next time.”

Nagisa looked his way quickly, exuberant.

“Next time, huh?” he asked, “So do you like karaoke?”

“It’s fun,” Rei replied, “I’ll admit, I felt nervous at first, but everything went so well. I felt my performance was nothing short of perfection.”

“I thought so too!” Nagisa said, “Rei-chan has a beautiful voice!”

Grinning, Rei involuntarily shifted his gaze away, feeling an oncoming blush.

“I…” he started awkwardly, “Yes. Th-Thank you.”

“Pretty songs like that suit your voice way better than nagging.”

Rei frowned and slumped, looking back at him irately.

“I don’t nag you! Stop saying that!”

“You’re nagging right now.”

“I’m not nagging! I’m defending myself!”

“Maybe instead of nagging me when you want me to stop doing something, you should just sing to me instead. I’ll listen a lot better, probably.”

“You can’t even guarantee it?” Rei asked.

“Nah,” Nagisa said nonchalantly, “I’ll probably be too busy listening to your voice to hear the words.”

“That’s hardly any different from what you do now! Honestly, it’s like talking to a wall with selective hearing, sometimes… The least you could do is consider what I’m saying. It bothers me when you ignore me not just because you ignore me but because it doesn’t end up helping you at all! I’m only trying to help you, Nagisa-kun, and I would appreciate if you’d stop calling my concerns ‘nagging.’”

Rei waited for a reply, expecting some sort of snarky comeback, but found himself surprised as Nagisa gazed back at him placidly, cheek in hand. It was neither sarcastic, nor apologetic. What was with this response?

“What’s wrong?” Rei asked, worried he may have said something insensitive.

“Nothing,” Nagisa replied simply, “It’s just been a while since I’ve heard you talk so much. You’ve been really quiet on our dates… I was getting worried about you.”

Rei’s eyes shifted away, now feeling guilty. In truth, he had not noticed his silence as of late, though he had spent a lot of time in his own head fretting the details of their dates. How awful Nagisa must have felt accompanying him for extended periods without having a single word spoken to him. No wonder he appreciated the mere sound of his voice.

“Um… please don’t get quiet again…” Nagisa said nervously.

He did it even now!

“I’m sorry,” Rei said, “I didn’t even realize it was upsetting you. You don’t have to worry about me, I’ll be fine.”

Nagisa hummed doubtfully, frowning with concern. Then again, assuring someone “I’ll be fine” was probably the least reassuring thing to say. Before Rei could speak again, Nagisa reached abruptly for the remote and began scrolling through the list of songs. The titles disappeared as quickly as they displayed on the screen, clearly not the specific song Nagisa was looking for. When he finally stopped, he highlighted the title of a popular radio song of which Rei was a victim of having stuck in his head for days at a time.

“You know this one, right?” he asked, clicking it anyway.

“Uh…” Rei started intelligently, “Yes?”

Nagisa stood up and took his hands, pulling him to his feet and pushing the remote into his hands.

“ _I’m_ singing it?!” Rei asked.

“Yeah, and you’re gonna dance too!”

“I’m dancing now?! But I can’t make up moves on the spot like you can!”

“That’s okay, I’m gonna show you! Follow my lead, Rei-chan!”

For the duration of the song, Rei’s eyes focused less on the lyrics on the screen—which he had mostly memorized from the countless times it had played on the radio anyway—and more on Nagisa’s freestyle moves, most of which were cute or some other style Rei wasn’t sure fit his form. While Nagisa moved completely on-beat, Rei’s following movements fell short by delay, and felt lacking in beauty and grace, to his embarrassment. He began to sit down again, but Nagisa pulled him back up, moving a bit more simply and repetitively, allowing Rei to study his rhythm and sync his movements. As they finally moved in unison, Rei began to feel the music not only in his head, but throughout his body as well. How intriguing. He looked back to Nagisa, who spared him a big grin as they met eyes, and only at that time did Rei realize that he had begun smiling as well. And he wore that smile through the remaining movements and final notes of the song. 

With the closing, Nagisa thrust his arms in the air in celebration.

“You did it!” he cheered, “See, that wasn’t so bad!”

Rei scratched his cheek.

“Only because you showed me what to do,” he said, “I wouldn’t have known where to start on my own.”

“You had fun, didn’t you?” Nagisa asked, “That’s all that matters.”

He took up the remote again and began scrolling the list.

“Let’s find another one for you to dance to.”

“Shouldn’t it be my turn to choose?” Rei asked, realizing he had been skipped.

“You know one?” Nagisa asked.

Rei nodded with a smile and took the remote to look for the title. Meanwhile, Nagisa grinned back, bopping to an imaginary tune joyously. Though possibly foolish to decide so early, this date seemed like it was going in a good direction.

* * *

For the following several songs, they kept to this pattern of choosing more upbeat tunes, all of which Nagisa fell into easily whether he had heard the song before or not. Some of his moves were easier to keep up with than others, and after the third song, Rei began to improvise his own wherever he could not replicate Nagisa’s. Though he felt his own moves were flawless, Nagisa’s laughter at a few of them caused him some doubt. In any case, he was happy, so Rei did his best to ignore it.

After a particularly tricky song to get down, Nagisa dropped back into the seats again, weary.

“Rei-chan, can we take a break?” he huffed.

Rei agreed, seating himself next to Nagisa so that he could catch his breath as well. As the two of them rested, Rei pulled up his wrist to look at his watch. No wonder they were so tired. At this rate, the next song would be their last. Clearly, neither felt up for dancing, so a slower paced song would be best, and since he had sung the last song, the microphone would go to Nagisa, who had not sung anything slow-paced all day.

“There’s just enough time for one last song,” Rei said, sliding the remote to Nagisa, “It’s all yours.”

Nagisa hummed thoughtfully, reluctantly accepting the offer and slowly thumbing through the selections. He seemed almost disinterested, and Rei tried to remind himself that they had both worn themselves thin today. Even for Nagisa, this much excitement proved a bit much.

But without warning, Nagisa jolted up straight in a moment of realization, scrolling through the list more quickly, in search of something. Rei felt a little uneasy about his urgency, especially in such unsettling silence. This did not last long, however, as the blipping of the selection change stopped and Nagisa let out a small exclaim, then facing Rei with newfound vigor.

“Rei-chan, let’s do this one!” he said, pointing to the highlighted title.

Rei’s eyes followed the line of Nagisa’s finger to the monitor, finding the title _“Our Love’s First Summer”_ highlighted. Something seemed different about this choice, when his sight fell upon a colored note beside the title. Then he reran Nagisa’s request through his head.

“‘Let’s…?’” he repeated, “This is a duet…?”

“Yeah! Let’s sing it together!”

“I’m… not sure…”

“Aww, come on, we’re not dancing to it. And it’s a slow song, so you’ll be able to keep up. Besides, I wanna sing a love song with Rei-chan!”

Rei’s face burned as his lips moved into a smile involuntarily.

“Well… how can I argue with that?” he murmured.

Satisfied with his answer, Nagisa happily finalized his selection and stood up slowly, holding his hand out to help Rei to his feet as well. A soft piano instrumental opened the song at a much slower pace than the previous choices. Nagisa turned to face the screen, readying the microphone to his lips, volunteering to start. The gentle melody alluded to something more heartfelt, which had Rei’s attention glued to Nagisa in anticipation of hearing what the song would sound like coming from him.

As the piano led into the last notes before the first line, Nagisa took a deep breath and let the lyrics ease out,

_“Out in the last summer rain, standing underneath your umbrella…”_

Rei’s breath caught and his mouth fell slightly agape. “Beautiful” didn’t even begin to describe his voice… All of his singing before sounded more like the voice he knew, but this came from the heart. Nagisa glanced back at Rei, nodding hintingly to the screen that he was snoozing his verse. Flustered, Rei sang what was left of the line.

_“-our hands feel warm when they intertwine.”_

Relieved, Nagisa smiled and sang the next line to the screen again, 

_“Everything’s right with you, all of it’s fun and new, how your smile shines…”_

Rei’s next line overlaid Nagisa’s, so he was unable to appreciate Nagisa’s range for the time being, to his annoyance.

_“How your smile shines…”_

_“I hope this downpour never ends…"_

The following lines displayed in a new color. Now the duet truly began. Rei tightened his grip on his microphone, listening closely for Nagisa’s voice alongside his own.

_“So I won’t have to leave your side…_  
Our love’s first summer, so full of color, I get so lost in your eyes. Why am I stumbling? Why am I crumbling? My stomach’s got butterflies! Next year, we’ll meet here, and all will come clear, by then we will get this right! But for now, we’ll keep trying and trying to find a way to break fear.  
Just hold tight.” 

As they reached the instrumental, Nagisa turned to Rei with a grin, giddy with exhilaration. He heard it too. Rei trembled, overwhelmed with emotion, but able to smile back with fondness. The music swelled again, leading to the bridge. As Nagisa’s lyrics began to display, he faced his body toward Rei to sing to him directly, and Rei followed in kind.

_“Always wanting you.”_

_“And I need you too.”_

_“Please just take me far away, where we two can just be you and me.”_

_“You and me, just we’ll be.”_

_“And show me a sight…”_

Both beamed, belting the final verse together.

_“I haven’t ever seen!_  
Our love’s first summer, no storm nor thunder, our long story’s just begun. What is this feeling? Am I still dreaming? I feel like you are the one! Next year, we’ll meet here, laugh at our old fears, relive the times of our youth. I’ll come back to that same summer of our first love,  
and promise I’ll be… here with you.” 

At the final chord, a tear slipped down Rei’s cheek, and he spun away from Nagisa so he wouldn’t see. But of course he saw.

“Rei-chan?” he asked with audible concern, “Are you crying?”

“I’m fine,” Rei said quickly, “It’s just… our voices are perfect in harmony… Together, we sound so beautiful…”

There was only the briefest of pauses before he felt Nagisa’s body thump against his as threw his arms around him, rubbing his cheek against his shoulder.

“Rei-chan!!” he cried, “You think we sound beautiful together! Rei-chan!”

Rei stood still, stunned by the loud affection as Nagisa continued his ecstatic cheering with bubbly laughs and adoring nuzzles. He hadn’t expected such a strong reaction from a merely honest statement. But it made him happy. It made him so happy. Happier than he had seen him in a while. Now that the final song had ended, he could safely conclude that this date went flawlessly.

Heart bursting with joy, Rei laughed too, wrapping his arms tightly around Nagisa and lifting him just enough to stand him on his toes. Nagisa laughed more, burrowing his face deep into the crook of Rei’s neck, spreading warmth throughout both of their faces. Once he set him flat on his feet again, Rei pressed his forehead to Nagisa’s and gave his face an affectionate snuggle. Nagisa’s laughs faded into a contented hum and he nuzzled back. The song’s final notes ended their two-hour session, leaving the two to their soft chuckles and sighs. Though their time had expired, they felt no rush to leave.

* * *

Dusk had fallen by the time they reached Nagisa’s house. They stepped out of the warm evening glow and into the shade of their familiar ending point, wrapping up their long, comfortable conversation from when they left the karaoke bar. Not so casual as small talk, not so deep as an intimate discussion, but merely comfortable. As he faced Rei directly for the last time that evening, Nagisa beamed brighter than the sun itself, warming Rei’s heart.

“I had so much fun today, Rei-chan!” he said, “Thanks for letting me hear your beautiful love songs!”

“Anytime, Nagisa-kun,” Rei responded, “I enjoyed hearing your beautiful voice as well.”

Nagisa’s grin widened as he ducked his head, bashful. Then, he took Rei’s hand and met his eyes with a sincere gaze.

“Let’s have more dates like this one, okay?” he asked.

So he agreed this date couldn’t have gone better. _Perfect._ As long as Rei managed to successfully execute dates of this caliber from then on, their relationship could blossom in the perfection he had intended from the beginning. And with perfected harmony, he could keep this beautiful smile on Nagisa’s face forever. Rei smiled and nodded once, gripping the hand holding his.

“Of course,” he said, “Nothing less.”

His response brought forth another rosy-cheeked grin, and Nagisa swiftly pecked his cheek to make his face match his own blush before releasing his hand to wave. They shared a short, sweet farewell before parting ways for the evening.

* * *

Rei caught himself humming their last song while stepping out of the bathroom after his shower. When he acknowledged it, his smile crept on his face, and he permitted himself to continue as he took up his phone to text Nagisa good night. He had never shared something so heartfelt as song with anyone before, nor had Nagisa shared anything quite like his genuine voice with him. Though he had planned for such a small date, this day brought something so much more.

He barely had to organize his thoughts to transfer to text, sending out the message without a second glance,

_ >I had a wonderful time with you today. I can’t wait for our next date, Nagisa-kun. <3_

A short while after he closed his phone, a reply came through:

_ >you and me just we’ll be (//^^//) sweet dreams rei-chan~ <3 _

Rei smiled and tucked his phone away, turning in for the night with Nagisa’s voice running through his head. Things between them were starting to change, and for the better it seemed. They had found a rhythm, one he could work with. Now that he had overcome this obstacle, he could plan for even greater things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to write one song for Rei and Nagisa to sing, but since I'm not really musically adept, I wrote new words for an existing tune. So if you wanted to set their duet to music, the lyrics are written to sync to the first and third verse, as well as the bridge of their second character duet: Natsu no Owari no Yuumagure.


	5. The Theoretical Perfect Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rei has a special date planned for Nagisa that he intends for them to share completely alone. That's really not much to ask.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhhhh my God, I am so sorry it's been three days under a year since the last chapter. Last year was kind of a busy year (I graduated college!), so I was only able to work on this chapter little bits at a time. I've spent the past week working pretty hard on it, and actually ended up cutting about a page or so of content at one point because the chapter was so long already and not even done. Hopefully this long major chapter will make up for the wait. Thank you for your patience! Sorry again!

_Penguins attract mates by offering rocks for nest building._

_If they are successful, the two birds mate for life._

_They remain close at all times, and sometimes engage in a behavior called allopreening._

* * *

He watched the weekly forecast for a third time after dinner, paying particularly close attention to the next day’s weather. A small, grey cloud loomed over the thirty degrees Celsius reading, drizzling upon the number. Gloomy as it was, it had in fact been exactly what he needed. When it first appeared on the forecast earlier that week, he started to watch the weather almost religiously every day, his hopes rising the longer that grey cloud remained. Now that it was close enough, he could finally set his next step in motion.

As the weatherman moved on to the next day, Rei shut off the television and returned to his room to retrieve his phone. He had only returned to the apartment twenty minutes ago, and was hoping the hour wouldn’t be too late for Nagisa. But this was necessary. Besides, he seemed to like surprises.

Rei selected Nagisa’s name from his contacts and held the phone to his ear. After a few lengthy rings, the always-chipper voice on the other end responded.

“Hi, Rei-chan!”

“Hello, Nagisa-kun?”

“Good timing!” he replied, “You caught me just as I was getting out of the bath!”

“Oh, so you were about to go to bed?” Rei asked, now feeling guilty, “I’m sorry for calling so late…”

“It’s fine, it’s fine! I wasn’t going to sleep for a bit anyway. What’s up?”

Rei sat at his desk, peering up at the night sky through his window.

“Um… I apologize for the short notice, but I was wondering if you’d like to go on another date tomorrow morning?”

“Of course I would! Where are we going?”

“I was thinking we could spend the day at the zoo. I’ve done some extensive research on their establishment and they appear to house quite a variety of animals, fish, and insects.”

“Ohh, I haven’t been to the zoo in years! That sounds like a lot of fun!”

Rei smiled, internally patting himself on the back.

“It takes a while to get there by train, though, so we have to be up bright and early. What do you say we meet at the train station by seven-thirty?”

“Sounds good! I can’t wait!”

“Then I’ll let you go so you can get some sleep. I wouldn’t want you dozing off on my shoulder on the train again.”

“You say that, but you like it…” Nagisa’s voice pouted.

“I don’t like you drooling on my clothes,” Rei stated with aggravation, then more shyly, “And… it’s not good for your health to be in a constant state of sleep deprivation, so it makes me worry…”

“Aww. Okay, Rei-chan. I’ll go to bed now so you won’t worry.”

“Thank you. U-Um… good night, Nagisa-kun. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“Sweet dreams, Rei-chan! I love you!”

Rei’s mouth fell open at the words, but not a sound came out. Not that it mattered, since Nagisa hung up immediately following his declaration. He released a little sigh, melting back in his seat. Though the rest of him lay still as he stared at the ceiling, his leg bounced restlessly. A week had passed since their karaoke date, the first notable perfectly executed outing. The three following dates went just as smoothly, finally setting them on a steady path. Things were going perfectly for their relationship.

Rei sat closer to the desk, reaching for the zoo pamphlet and flipping through it. He’d planned this date for weeks, far longer than he knew what to do with it, but finding the perfect use now. Every detail was so delicate, so carefully strategized, that the slightest change could unravel everything. All things considered, Rei knew he took great risk in trying to pull this off, but if successful… He smiled to himself, a picture of Nagisa’s beaming face coming to mind. If he got it right, he would make Nagisa so happy. That alone was worth the risk.

As he showered that night, he tried to keep himself calm by running the schedule through his head step by step. He worked in as much leeway as possible just in case anything came up, but otherwise felt comfortable putting the plan into action. The longer he thought about it, the more he could work around obstacles that could threaten tomorrow. In the end, as long as just the two of them were together, he could steer things the way they needed to go and provide Nagisa with another flawless date.

Toweled off and in a fresh pajama set, he replaced himself at his desk once more and pulled out his notebook, which grew fuller by the day. His latest entries appeared drastically misplaced, which left him feeling unsettled, though he knew they retained relevance to the rest of the subjects. He flipped to the previous entry, staring at it for a long time. The longer he stared, the more aware he became of his own heart thumping inside his body. Abruptly, it launched against the wall of Rei’s chest as his phone began to vibrate across the desk. The I.D. displayed Nagisa’s name, and he scooped it up quickly to answer.

“Hello?” he asked anxiously.

Only silence came from the other line. Rei opened his mouth to prompt him again when the response came stuttering through. 

“U-Um, Rei-chan, you know that I think you’re beautiful, right?”

His face broke out in red and his heart skipped a beat. Where did that come from?

“E-Eh?” he asked.

“Your eyes and your smile are very beautiful. And the way you mess with your glasses when you get embarrassed is really cute.”

He suddenly noticed that his hand fumbled with his glasses again, and he pulled it away immediately.

“I-Is that so?” he asked, a silly smile forcing its way onto his face as he felt himself slipping into euphoria over the praise.

“You’re especially cute when you’re not mad,” Nagisa said.

The elation dropped like a ball of lead. He should have suspected this flattery wasn’t out of nowhere.

“What did you do?” Rei asked irately.

“U-Um… I-I… might have mentioned to Mako-chan that I was going to the zoo with Rei-chan tomorrow, and he might have said that he hadn’t gone to the zoo since he was little…”

“Nagisa-kun…”

“And I might have accidentally offered to let him and Haru-chan come with us.”

Rei sighed, closing his eyes as he rested his forehead to his hand. Of course. Things were going too well.

“I’m _really_ sorry, Rei-chan… It just sort of slipped out, and I didn’t want to take it back…”

“No, I don’t expect you to…” Rei groaned, “We’ll figure something out…”

“We can go again just the two of us some other time,” Nagisa suggested, a plea to make amends evident in his tone.

“It’s all right,” Rei reassured him, “This will be nice too. We haven’t seen Haruka-senpai or Makoto-senpai since your birthday, so it would be nice to spend time with them as well. I miss seeing them every day, and I’m sure you feel the same.”

“Yeah…”

Nagisa’s voice sounded uncharacteristically dejected at the notion of spending time with their seniors. Rei smiled a little and did his best to relay it through his next words.

“Hey… Tomorrow’s going to be a lot of fun, okay? I’m glad we’ll get to share it with the others.”

“Are you sure…?” Nagisa asked, uncertain.

“Of course. I’m sure they won’t mind if we take some time for ourselves as well.”

“Okay… Um… Rei-chan…?”

“Yes?”

“About what I said before…”

He trailed off. Rei tilted his head against the receiver, wondering if he missed something. Then came the rest,

“…I wasn’t just saying that so you wouldn’t get mad, I really meantitokayIloveyoubye!”

The last words blended together, followed by the click of their conversation disconnecting. Rei’s mouth hung open as he deciphered the words individually. He chuckled at Nagisa’s rare, but endearing fluster. Despite his confident air, Nagisa seemed rather embarrassed by this sort of thing. How cute…

The smile soon faded as he thought their conversation over, realizing its implications. Of course. The one thing he needed for this date was for the two them to be alone. But their senpai were reasonable men. He told Nagisa himself they would more than likely be willing to give them some time to themselves. They needed nothing more than twenty minutes. That was all.

In no less than a second after Rei set his phone down, it went off again. This time, the caller wasn’t Nagisa. Rei answered it urgently, hoping for the best.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Rei?” Makoto’s voice came through the phone gently, “I’m sorry for calling so late.”

“N-No, it’s fine,” Rei stammered.

“I just got off the phone with Nagisa a little while ago and he mentioned the two of you were going to the zoo tomorrow and offered to let Haru and I come too. I just wanted to check and make sure that was okay with you before I called Haru about it.”

Rei smiled, relieved to hear his words. He had such a polite senior. Though it was Rei’s intention to have as few people around as possible, and Makoto was providing him with a gracious and extremely tempting escape from the mess, he wasn’t about to revoke the invitation either.

“Yes, that’s absolutely fine, Makoto-senpai,” he said.

“Are you sure? He said he was going ‘with you’ so I assume the trip was your idea, and I don’t want to impose if you just wanted to go with him.”

Guilt started panging around in Rei’s chest. Of course he didn’t intend to exclude his friends from this trip, though he had fully intended for it to be a date. And—unless he had missed something—people didn’t typically invite their friends to accompany them on dates unless they engaged in a double-date. But it had been awhile since he had had a nice outing with his friends as well. But this date was supposed to be really special. But this might be the last time he could go out with his friends to someplace special. But he was supposed to have Nagisa alone. He wanted to softly beat his head against his desk, though the noise might bring forth concern from his friend on the other line.

“N-No, it’s nothing we had planned for a long time or anything, we just talked about it tonight,” Rei said, “It’s not an exclusive trip, so feel free to bring Haruka-senpai and whomever else you wish!”

…why on Earth did he say that?

“Really?” Makoto asked, his voice a little eager, “Then would you mind if we brought Ren and Ran, too? They would love to see the animals.”

How could he say no?

“Not at all,” he responded, “They’re more than welcome.”

“And we talked last time about meeting up somewhere, so we could ask Rin and Gou as well, if that’s okay. Does that still apply to them?”

_Why not at this point?!_

“Absolutely, the more the merrier!” Rei said, somehow managing a light tone through an agonized grimace.

_WHAT WAS HE SAYING?!?!? JUST STOP TALKING!!_

“Great! So where and when are we meeting?” Makoto asked to confirm.

Rei lay his head on the desk, mumbling,

“Tomorrow morning, seven-thirty, at the train station.”

“Alright, I’ll let them know. And, Rei?”

“Yes?” Rei asked, wincing in anticipation of extra invitees in addition to the established eight.

But Makoto’s response came through in an even gentler tone.

“Thank you,” he said, “I think everyone is really going to love this. Especially Nagisa. He sounded really happy when I talked to him, even more than usual. I thought you might want to know.”

The words picked Rei’s head up, and his dread melted away. Leave it to his senpai to always know what to say. He swallowed a lump in his throat as he sat up straight again.

“Oh,” was all he could manage as he pushed his glasses back up his nose.

Makoto chuckled.

“Never mind,” he said, to Rei’s confusion, “We’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“Right. Good night, Makoto-senpai.”

“Good night, Rei.”

After hanging up, Rei finally closed and lay his phone to rest for the remainder of the night, leaning back in his seat with a long sigh. Well. Suppose this was as bad as it would get. Gou kept her business to herself fairly well and would likely want to spend the time with her brother, who was also a reasonable person and would know to keep his distance if asked politely. And with Makoto’s little brother and sister in the group, he and Haru would spend a lot of time keeping a watchful eye on the kids. He and Nagisa would have no trouble balancing an outing with their friends and a date between the two of them by this logic. Rei allowed himself to smile a little. He had to believe what he told Nagisa before. Everything would be fine. As long as he could look at these circumstances with optimism, nothing in his previous plans would change.

* * *

“Oh! Gou, over here!”

Gou followed her brother’s voice and found the group, finally completing the party of twelve at the train station.

“Hey, Onii-chan! Hey, everyone!” she greeted pleasantly, “Thanks again for inviting me! It feels like it’s been forever since I last went to the zoo!”

“That’s what everyone else has been saying too,” Makoto said with a smile.

“Ohh!! Gou~!” Momo and Seijuuro exclaimed in unison, each using their respective honorifics for the youngest Matsuoka sibling.

Gou’s smile went from cheerful to strained in a flash, remaining polite but knowing what kind of day she was in for seeing the energetic red-haired brothers.

“O-Oh…!” she managed pleasantly, “Mikoshiba-buchou? and …Urashima-Tarou-san?”

“Close!” Momo exclaimed enthusiastically, “Different folktale! It’s Momotarou! Like the boy born from the giant peach who slays all the ogres on the island with his animal companions!”

“How is that close to Urashima Tarou…?” Ai asked, beyond exhausted with his explanation.

“But you can call me Momo!” Momo went on, ignoring his senior, “My hobby is catching stag—”

“Oi,” Rin said, stepping in front his sister to allow her some space, “Can you two lay off for the day? She just said she hadn’t been in forever.”

“I wonder how much the zoo has changed since we were little,” Makoto mused.

“But they’re still gonna have tigers, right?” Ren asked, worried at the very idea of their absence.

“And lions?” Ran added, equally concerned.

“I’m sure they’ll have those,” Makoto said with confidence.

“What about rhinos?” Ren asked.

“And elephants?” Ran asked.

“And monkeys?”

“And giraffes?”

“And capybaras?”

“And axolotls?”

“And okapis?”

“And pangolins?”

“And kappa?”

“A-At least some of those,” Makoto stammered, overwhelmed by the increasingly obscure list of expectations. 

“Either way, you two will have fun,” Haru assured them with a paternal smile, “We all will.”

“Yeah, and today’s the perfect day to go, too!” Momo chimed in, “Not too hot, a nice little breeze, and sunshine for days!”

Rei glared up at the traitorous morning sky, where the only clouds to be seen were fluffy, white, and sparse. Aside from that, the sun shone brightly in the vast blue of the sky, and the air felt drier than chalk. And with summer vacation going on, everyone would want to enjoy this weather, which would have been perfect had it not been the exact opposite of what he had planned for. The rest of the group certainly seemed happy with it.

The noise alone already grated his nerves. He should have remembered during their previous plans that Nagisa requested the presence of their other Samezuka friends, but the thought had slipped his mind, and when an extra four party members arrived alongside Rin, Rei felt his cool exterior rattling. If only the small circle of friends and the children had come he could have handled it just fine, but Momo brought a whole new brand of energy that he didn’t know how to handle. Between his and Seijuuro’s attempts to court Gou, this was about to be a day-long headache. Even Ai already seemed worn down by their enthusiasm, but at least he was politely quiet. And though totally silent and barely present, it didn’t appear that Sousuke felt that enthusiastic about the trip at all. Why did he even come?

In the midst of all the energy and clamor, Rei suddenly realized none of it had come from the one usually responsible for all of it. He looked down at Nagisa, who stared at his feet with a furrowed brow and gripped the straps of his backpack tightly. All morning, he had barely said a word, falling quieter with every person who showed up at the rendezvous point. The night before, he had been so apologetic for inviting along Makoto and Haru by accident, so he must have thought the rest of the group arriving was his fault as well. Rei spent so much time irritated by the noise, he hadn’t even noticed that Nagisa felt upset. He could chide himself for his lack of perception all day, but doing so wouldn’t fix the issue at hand.

“Nagisa-kun?” he said quietly, “Are you okay?”

The tension in Nagisa’s shoulders tightened as he lowered his head further, surprisingly embarrassed.

“I’m sorry, Rei-chan…” he murmured, “I know you meant to have a quiet date with just the two of us, but because I messed up…”

“Don’t,” Rei interrupted softly, smiling to reassure him, “I don’t mind spending time with everyone. As long as we cover everything planned, and as long as you’re having fun, that’s all that matters to me.”

Nagisa looked up at him, his expression full of doubt.

“I promise,” Rei said, “Today’s going to be fun, no matter what.”

At last, a small smile curled Nagisa’s lips.

“Okay, Rei-chan,” he said, “If you’re sure this doesn’t change anything, I know we’ll have fun too.”

“Nagisa-chi, you’re finally smiling!” Momo exclaimed, running at Nagisa with excitement and crashing against him with an embrace, “We were just starting to worry you were sick or something!”

“I can’t be sick for a zoo day!” Nagisa said with a grin, easing the last of Rei’s worries, “Besides, this is the first time we’ll be getting to hang out with Rin-chan’s friends, so that makes today extra special!”

And just like that, Nagisa had completely returned to his usual self, running over to Ai and Sousuke to force his enthusiasm on them as well. Haru approached Rei with a gentle smile.

“Good call on the zoo, Rei,” he said, “I think this will be good for everyone.”

Rei blushed a little at his senior’s praise.

“O-Oh,” he stammered, “I’m glad.”

As much as he had wanted to spend the day with Nagisa alone, and as much as he didn’t know how to handle the unfamiliar group members, he couldn’t deny that he felt proud having put together an outing everyone would enjoy. Perhaps there was a silver lining to this change of plans after all.

* * *

The almost three-hour commute went by in a flash with Nagisa and Momo leading the conversation. The Iwatobi and Samezuka groups kept mostly to their separate cliques, aside from Rin and Gou who had friends on both sides. The time they spent in lively exchange brought Rei’s nerves from before down to level out, to the point that he nearly forgot this was still a date with Nagisa. Nearly. For once, he considered himself grateful for Nagisa’s physical familiarity with everyone, allowing the two of them to sit together cozily without anyone giving it a second glance.

The walk from the train station to the entrance of the zoo took little time and gave the group a chance to stretch their legs. To everyone’s surprise, not a single person stood before the admission booths, leaving no wait for the large party. Rei smiled to himself, relieved that they wouldn’t have to waste too much valuable time in a crowded line.

“I can’t believe there’s no wait,” Ai said with surprise.

“It’s probably because everyone else is already inside,” Sousuke mumbled, possibly his first words all day which were dripping with pessimism, to Rei’s annoyance.

“Aw, don’t say that,” Rin said, playfully bumping his massive friend, “Just look at it as we’re lucky we don’t have to stand in place for an hour.”

Ren and Ran had been fairly patient along the way, but with the destination finally in sight, neither could hide their excitement.

“Onii-chan, we can be first in line!” Ran exclaimed.

“Hurry, hurry!” Ren cried as he and his sister pulled Makoto along, who stumbled forward as if their strength really had enough impact to do so.

“Alright, alright,” he laughed, attempting to straighten himself.

Haru kept close to the three, followed by Momo and Seijuuro, and then Rin, Gou, Ai, and Sousuke. As Rei began to step forward, he heard a soft voice.

“Hey, Rei-chan.”

Nagisa spoke to him in a hushed tone, and once Rei gave him his attention, he took his hands and gave them a little squeeze, smiling all the while.

“Let’s commence our tenth official date,” Nagisa said, his voice filled with soft elation.

Delighted, Rei’s shoulders rose with the corners of his lips, pleased Nagisa was keeping count too. 

“Right,” he said with a nod, “I hope you enjoy what I have planned for today, Nagisa-kun.”

With a little grin, Nagisa released his hands and bounded on ahead, keeping a close watch on Rei to assure he would follow. They joined the rest of the group in their small line at the booth, moving through smoothly. In exchange for the admission, each of them received neon-colored paper bracelets based on age and a paper directory of the zoo’s exhibits, to which many of them began plotting out points of interest.

As Rei slid his and Nagisa’s admission over the counter, a number of families walked through the exit in a hurry. He glanced at his watch with confusion, wondering why the visitors were already leaving at only ten-thirty in the morning. The crowd had caught the attention of some of the others as well, who watched them walk away suspiciously.

“That’s weird,” Nagisa said, “Why are there so many of them leaving?”

“Well… the fewer people around, the better, I guess,” Makoto said reluctantly, “We can have a clearer view of the animals this way.”

“Still, it doesn’t make any sense why people would be leaving so early in the middle of summer…” Gou said.

“Maybe it’s the heat,” Ai suggested, fanning himself lightly with his map.

“Well that’s not gonna get us down!” Seijuuro exclaimed.

“Nothing’s gonna get us down!” Momo agreed with vigor as they began to head through the entrance.

Rei followed behind the group quietly, Nagisa keeping close to his side. Despite the concern among the others, he worried very little about the declining number of visitors. As Makoto pointed out, it only freed up the space in front of the exhibits more, just as he had needed in the first place. With that in mind, perhaps he could still follow through with the initial plan. Just then, the often silent Haru spoke up.

“I don’t think it’s the heat…”

The others quieted down and faced him with surprise. Haru had directed his gaze upward, and everyone followed, discovering sometime between boarding the train and arriving at the zoo, grey clouds had rolled in, blocking out any glimpse of sunlight. Aside from a bit of panic on behalf of the group outing, Rei felt a little happy to see the undesirable weather approaching. It seemed as though he would have at least two factors in his favor now. No one else, understandably, shared his relief with these circumstances.

“Did the forecast call for rain?” Gou asked, turning to him first.

“I… didn’t check,” Rei lied.

“That might explain why it’s so quiet today, “Ai said.

“Do we have to go home if it starts raining?” asked Ran, upset by the very notion.

“No, there should be indoor areas to the zoo as well,” Makoto told her, “Isn’t that right, Rei?”

“Yes,” he confirmed, “There’s the aquarium, the aviary, the butterfly pavilion, and a number of restaurants.”

The exact locations he had studied the most over the past few nights for this exact purpose.

“It’s probably just a little overcast,” Nagisa said to the others coolly, patting Rei’s arm, “I’m sure it’ll pass over soon en—”

His sentence broke off immediately, and he held his hand to his hair, then tilting his head toward the sky. One by one, the others began mimicking the same gesture. A sudden blur on one of Rei’s lenses partially obscured his vision, but he could still see the ground speckling with dark spots. And then the sky let loose, an avalanche of rainwater pouring down in a single heavy wave, causing a number of the others to exclaim in surprise. A little late was better than never, but Rei felt a bit thrown into the next plan of action.

“Get over to the aquarium!” he directed, leading the way.

Most of the group bolted as quickly as possible to the nearest building, with the exception of Haru, who seemed all right with the weather and took his time, much to Makoto’s frustration. Rei held the door open and allowed the others in ahead of him. The minimally lit aquarium enveloped them in an immediate cool, salty air often associated with the ocean. Over the roar of the pouring rain outside, the faint ambiance hummed calmly, reminiscent of deep waters. The air conditioning felt nice for all of thirty seconds before their damp clothes began to feel frigid and they were all shivering.

“Well,” Rin said with a short sigh as he wrung out his shirt, “That was an unexpected start to this trip.”

“I hope the rain didn’t damage my camera…” Gou moaned, rummaging through her soggy bag.

A few of the others took notice to her worry and began checking their own devices nervously. Nagisa dropped his bag on the floor and dug through it, pulling out a fairly dry black case with relief.

“Thank goodness,” he sighed.

Rei felt brief regret for putting Nagisa’s and everyone else’s belongings at risk, but seeing that no one lost anything to water damage, he let the worry slide. He peered out the glass door at the heavy downpour, pleased to see it had no intention of lessening.

“I wonder if it’ll stop any time soon,” Makoto said, also peering out.

“We can ask an employee if they have a better idea of the forecast,” Rei said, “In the meantime, let’s just take our time in the aquarium and give ourselves a chance to dry off. There are plenty of things to see in here, so it should pass by the time we reach the end.”

As long as the forecast from last night remained faithful. 

“Ahh!”

Makoto let out a shriek, grabbing a deadpan Haru to shield himself at Nagisa’s sudden shout.

“Wh-What is it?!” he stammered.

“I just thought of a fun idea!” Nagisa said.

“What did you yell for, then?” Rin asked as Makoto relaxed and released Haru with an exasperated sigh.

“We should have a scavenger hunt!” Nagisa said, ignoring the question.

“In… the aquarium…” Sousuke said doubtfully.

“What kind of scavenger hunt?!” Momo asked, already on board with… whatever this was.

“An animal scavenger hunt!” Nagisa exclaimed, “A couple years ago, we went to a hot spring and Haru-chan told us what kinds of animals we would all be! We should go find our animals and take pictures with them! We’ll find a dolphin for Haru-chan, and an orca whale for Mako-chan—”

“Nagisa-kun, I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Rei cut in, “But dolphins and orca whales, generally speaking, don’t do well in captivity. So, this zoo doesn’t have any in their aquarium.”

“Boo,” Nagisa responded to him bluntly, then turning back to the group, “It doesn’t have to be a live animal! For example…”

He pointed suddenly to the ceiling, where marine life models suspended from wires. Nagisa’s finger aimed directly at a large model of a dolphin.

“I found Haru-chan’s, so we can cross his off the list.”

“Then what about the rest of us?” Rin asked, “It’s hardly a scavenger hunt when we’re only looking for three animals.”

“Haru-chan had one for you too,” Nagisa said, “Rin-chan is a shark. And since Gou-chan is your sister, that makes her a shark too. Ren-chan and Ran-chan are orca whales, so they can help Mako-chan look.”

He hummed thoughtfully for a second before looking directly to Haru for assistance.

“Haru-chan! Make up animals for Sou-chan, Ai-chan, Momo-chan and Sei-chan!”

“Whale shark, duck, sea otters.”

The response came out so flatly and automatic it caught everyone off guard. Haru merely stared back, seeming impatient about standing around the entrance for so long and wanting to get started. Rei admired his hidden enthusiasm, though suspected it had less to do with the animals and more with what they were swimming in.

“Had those in mind for a while, did you?” Rin asked, amused.

Sousuke seemed like he wanted to be annoyed with his selection, but couldn’t find anything to criticize, so he merely folded his arms. Momo and Seijuuro seemed perfectly fine with their otters, exchanging a celebratory high-ten. Ai, on the other hand, appeared both confused and mildly displeased.

“Why am I a duck…?” he asked.

“Those are perfect, Haru-chan, good job!” Nagisa moved on, giving him an approving thumb up, (to which Haru responded with the same gesture but lacking the matching expression), “Okay, everyone, let’s go find the animals!”

Ren and Ran cheered with excitement, eager to be the first to find their big brother’s orca whale amidst the models. Momo began to charge ahead, with the others moving along at a more leisurely pace. Despite the previous reservations, they seemed to be getting into the idea of finding animals that supposedly represented their personalities or swimming styles. Nagisa quickly stopped Haru before he could move too far, positioning him at a proper angle with his model so that he could snap a commemorative photo. As Nagisa attempted to get Haru to smile for the picture, Rei’s eyes followed along the stretch of the ceiling where all the models “swam” together in a cohesive group. His brow furrowed, realizing an issue.

“Oh well,” Nagisa sighed, approaching Rei after his failed attempt to persuade Haru, “At least I know he’s smiling on the inside. He’s having a good time, even if his face doesn’t show it.”

As Rei brought his gaze back down to him, he realized it too, his smile fading with immediate guilt.

“Ah! Rei-chan, you never got an animal did you?” he asked.

“Haruka-senpai said I was a butterfly, remember?” Rei said, “Rin-san and I discussed what kind of swimming animal I might be a long time ago, but… the results were inconclusive. Of course, I still could only swim butterfly at the time.”

“Then we’re still looking for your animal too,” Nagisa said, sunny once more, “Oh, hold on. Hey, guys?”

He caught the others’ attention before they went off too far.

“Since Rei-chan’s butterfly isn’t in the aquarium, we need to be on the lookout for something for him, okay? Find something that fits Rei-chan!”

His suggestion warmed Rei’s heart, reminding him once more why he had fallen for his best friend. 

In the second room, the group spent about three to five minutes at each of the tanks set up in the room, containing sea urchins, anemone, clownfish, mandarin fish, and other small aquatic life. One of the more popular tanks among the group contained seahorses, slowly hovering around the water or clinging to the kelp.

“They’re so cute!” Gou cooed. 

The kids pushed up to the front, peering inside wide-eyed.

“Whooa, they’re so cool!” Ren exclaimed.

“You know what makes seahorses special, don’t you?” Nagisa asked.

“Oh!” Ran shouted, her hand shooting up as if to answer a question from a teacher, “The daddy seahorses have the babies!”

“I was gonna say that…” Ren whined.

Rei took a closer look at the seahorses, admiring the way they floated about. He hadn’t considered them before, but now that he could observe them in person, he could easily make a list of similarities.

“Are you thinking you might be a seahorse?” Haru asked him.

“I’m not sure…” Rei murmured, “What do you think, Haruka-senpai?”

“I don’t.”

Rei expressed surprise at the quick answer, but Haru went on to explain,

“Seahorses are poor swimmers. You’ve worked too hard to be a seahorse.”

Rei’s heart swelled a little, feeling flattered by the praise. Knowing Haru felt that way about his efforts reassured him greatly. He looked to Nagisa, wondering if he also agreed, but found that Nagisa was too involved with the kids to have picked up on his and Haru’s conversation. 

The following room ended the line of models on the ceiling. Makoto and the twins encountered a gargantuan model of an orca whale on the ground, juxtaposed against a flat, oceanic backdrop for photo-ops such as this. Ren and Ran beamed genuinely for the picture, thrilled to have so quickly found theirs and their brother’s orca. From there, the pathway led to a tunnel where the tank arched above them, allowing them to see the schools of brightly colored fish of all sorts of different patterns, shapes, and sizes swim by the glass walls.

“It’s just like being in the ocean!” Gou exclaimed.

She approached one of the walls and looked further inside the tank.

“Oh! Onii-chan, I think I see a shark!”

“So you found one?” Rin asked, approaching the wall to look with her.

“See, in the far back?” Gou asked, pointing in the distance, “I think it’s coming this way.”

“Oh, I see it.”

With a bit more interest than Rei had seen all day, Sousuke approached the two to get a better look at the shark. As Rin tried to point it out, a looming shadow cast over the group, catching everyone by surprise. From above, a massive creature swam toward the side of the tunnel where the three stood.

“What is that?!” Ren shrieked, hiding behind Makoto’s legs.

“I believe that’s a whale shark!” Makoto exclaimed, trying to coax his little brother out to look at it better, “I’ve never seen a real one before!”

“They’re gentle giants,” Haru reassured him, “They’re not scary at all, see?”

“Isn’t that what Sousuke’s animal was?” Rin asked Haru.

“That’s right!” Nagisa confirmed, “So we have to get a picture of you guys with the sharks. Let me see if I can turn off the flash on my camera.”

As Nagisa fidgeted with the camera, Rei turned his attention back to Sousuke, whose flat expression had greatly softened upon meeting his whale shark, even more so as the twins began admiring it. Due to the distance between them, he couldn’t be sure, but Rei could have sworn he smiled. Leave it to Nagisa to make sure everyone enjoyed themselves.

Once he had taken a couple of pictures for himself and for Gou, Nagisa came running over to Rei with a pleased grin, but something else seemed to catch his attention as it faded. More hurriedly, Nagisa approached Ai, who stood some ways behind the rest reservedly. Rei hadn’t even noticed, but Ai seemed more downcast than when they had entered the aquarium. Nagisa never ceased to impress him with his perceptivity.

“Is something wrong?” Nagisa asked him.

“Not really,” Ai said modestly, “I was just thinking about, um… ducks.”

“The duck suits you really well, Ai-chan,” Nagisa said, “Haru-chan hit the bullseye on yours.”

Ai picked his head up, surprised by the immediate understanding of his concern. 

“Hazuki-san… why do you think Nanase-senpai was right about that?” Ai asked.

Nagisa hummed thoughtfully for only a moment before delivering his response with ease,

“Maybe the way you follow Rin-chan reminds him of a duckling. But I’m guessing it’s more because you never let Rin-chan’s lashing out last year discourage you from staying at his side, like water off a duck’s back. Haru-chan cares a lot about Rin-chan, so he’s probably grateful for you being there for him when he couldn’t be.”

Ai’s expression loosened and the tension in his posture released. He glanced toward Haru across the tunnel, then back at Nagisa, who retained his friendly smile and held out his hand.

“Come on,” he said, “Let’s keep looking.” 

“I don’t know that aquariums generally keep ducks,” Ai said, a bit deflated, “And trying to find a model or picture of one isn’t likely since they aren’t associated with the oce—”

“Not likely, but not impossible!” Nagisa interjected, then hooking his arm with Ai’s and dragging him along despite his protests.

Rei chuckled. Though he still longed to have time alone with Nagisa at some point during this “date” (if he could really call it that anymore) it made him happy to see Nagisa tending to everyone in the group. His determination to make sure everyone was having fun and smiling despite the odds against them made for an endearing experience on Rei’s part.

The party moved along the stretch of the long tunnel until it ended with a large set of glass doors, leading into a larger, brighter-lit area which appeared to house a section of freshwater fish in an environment meant to resemble a grassy clearing by a pond. Upon entering behind the others, Rei heard a stirring at the head, and as he approached, he found a surprising cause. In no particular hurry, a mother duck led her small brood of ducklings along the floor out in the open. Ai stooped beside the family, gazing at them fondly.

“They really have them here?” he asked, “I thought we’d never find them…”

Nagisa knelt in front of them, taking aim with his camera.

“See? Told you it was possible,” he said, “Say cheese!”

Ai barely had time to smile for his souvenir photo, but his face lit up more as Rin approached him afterward to share in his happiness towards the lucky find. Merrily, Nagisa made his way back to Rei’s side, bumping him playfully with his hip.

“Did you find anything yet?” he asked.

Rei chuckled.

“Not yet,” he said, “Nothing really stands out.”

Nagisa’s expression slipped, sympathetic. Instantly, Rei felt guilty for dampening his mood when he had been enjoying himself.

“Hey…” he said softly, “You know—”

“Hey, guys, they have a touch tank over here!” Momo announced from the next room.

“Ah, that’s right, the touch tank,” Rei said quickly, hoping to recover the situation from turning depressing, “Shall we go?”

It seemed to work, since Nagisa smiled again, leading the way and keeping a close eye on Rei to make sure he kept up.

By the touch tank, the first zoo employee they had seen since the entrance stood to supervise the handling of their live creatures. She greeted them pleasantly, requesting that before they participate to wash their hands before and after handling the animals. Everyone took turns washing up at the sinks, and meanwhile Seijuuro struck up a casual conversation with the employee.

“Any idea if the rain is supposed to let up today?” he asked her.

“I think I saw in the forecast it would be over by early afternoon,” she said, “Though I didn’t expect the rain to be so heavy.”

“Has it been quiet like this all morning?”

“We had a steady flow of customers at opening, but I guess they left once the rain started. Yours is the first group I’ve seen since.”

The statement had Rei’s full attention. So they really were the only ones currently visiting the aquarium. He glanced at Nagisa, who playfully flicked the water off his hands at Makoto, who was less than amused. If they were truly the only ones present, his plan had officially begun meeting the proper prerequisites to pull this off. He had stopped considering the possibility since Nagisa had been occupied with the others for a large duration of the trip, but now that they neared the end of the aquarium, all he had to do was look for an opportunity to distance them from the others. _This could really happen today._

“You’ve really been by yourself all afternoon?” Gou asked, approaching after drying her hands, “Well, thank you for waiting on us!”

“Thank you!” Ren and Ran echoed.

The employee, touched by the politeness of the group, offered to provide information on each of the animals inside the touch tank, able to more clearly communicate with individuals since they were the only ones around. Nagisa immediately pulled Rei up to the front beside the twins, presumably so they could hear the mini-lecture best. Maybe he knew Rei was more interested in the behavioral characteristics of the animals when looking to choose one. How perceptive.

Inside the shallow, rippling pool were various types of crabs, starfish, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers, as well as a couple species of rays and small sharks. Most of their friends were willing to put their hands inside the tank, Momo and Nagisa being particularly comfortable with the hands-on aspect of the experience, while Makoto, Ai, and Rei remained a bit more on the squeamish side of touching these particular animals. Ran felt initial concern that touching the animals would hurt them, but the employee assured her otherwise, showing her how to gently touch a ray with a flat palm. 

“Woow! They feel so slippery!” Ran exclaimed as a ray brushed past her fingers.

“Rei-chan, it’s a Ray-chan!” Nagisa exclaimed, “You should pet him!”

“I think I’ll pass,” Rei said, rejecting the very idea of touching something described as “slippery.”

“Aww, don’t be like that.”

“Haru, you can’t do that here!” 

Makoto suddenly threw himself at Haru, yelling at him through a whisper, and yanked his shirt, which he had apparently began to strip off, back to his waist. Though silent, Haru was visibly annoyed at being stopped, staring at the tank with a determined expression.

“Honestly, you’re so embarrassing to go out in public with…” Rin sighed.

“Maybe we should have known better than to bring him by an open touch tank…” Gou said.

Due to Haru’s inability to appropriately handle an open body of water, the group decided to move along to the next room, which went back to the deep darkness of the ocean. The first tank they encountered contained a family of sea otters, providing Momo and Seijuuro with their long-awaited souvenir photograph. After the picture, they decided to stay awhile to watch the otters float along on their backs, holding hands with their mates so the other wouldn’t drift away. For the first time in a while, Nagisa was not busy with one of the others. With few tanks left to look through, Rei had to either act that very moment or ditch his plan altogether. Assuming all else played out as intended, he could execute this flawlessly. It would be a waste not to seize such a rare opportunity. Clearing his throat, Rei finally approached Nagisa, his heart racing.

“Nagisa-kun…” he said in a low voice, “Would you come ahead with me?”

Surprised, Nagisa gaped with a single blink, glancing at the others reluctantly.

“Eh? Just us?” he asked.

“We won’t be long,” Rei promised, “I just thought you might be interested in what I wanted to show you.”

Nagisa agreed to follow him, though clearly surprised by the secretive behavior. After letting the others know they’d be moving on ahead, Rei led Nagisa away from the group down the next hallway. Passing by tanks filled with unfamiliar sea creatures, Nagisa became visibly more confused and concerned by where they were headed and why they weren’t stopping to visit the other inhabitants. Though Nagisa thought he wasn’t watching, Rei smiled at him as he marveled silently at the aquatic life behind the glass as briefly as he could while passing them by without stopping. Knowing the others, they would spend some time at each of the tanks, and leave them be for a while. At least, as long as they needed. Taking a last look around to assure no other visitors would be present to notice, Rei laced his fingers with Nagisa’s. Nagisa glanced at their hands before looking up at Rei, smiling back warmly at the one Rei shared with him.

“I see…” he said playfully, “Rei-chan just wanted me all to himself.” 

“Well, yes,” Rei said, “But… I did have something specific I wanted to see with just you.”

“What’s that?”

“Close your eyes.”

Without even questioning the request, Nagisa squeezed his eyes shut, tightening his hold on Rei’s hand and silently entrusting him to lead the way.

They finally reached the last attraction of the aquarium: a large, round, dark blue room like the others but lit slightly brighter by the wide, white display behind the glass. Just as the map had said, it was the exact attraction he wanted to experience with Nagisa. Like most of the aquarium, the exhibit was empty aside from the animal inhabitants, who paid no mind to their visitors and went about their business casually. He couldn’t have planned it better if he had tried. Perhaps the stars had finally aligned in his favor.

“Rei-chan, can I open my eyes yet?” Nagisa asked, now forcing himself to keep his eyes adverted with his free hand.

“Just a minute,” Rei promised, leading Nagisa carefully up to the glass, facing him directly toward one particular species on the other side, and then allowing, “Okay. You can look now.”

The moment he opened his eyes, they flashed open wider with an audible gasp as he pressed up against the glass.

“Rockhopper penguins!” Nagisa exclaimed.

Rei grinned as Nagisa dropped his bag on the floor and began excitedly following the penguins as they hopped from rock to rock, some diving into the water and zipping past them with ease. Some of the other species of penguins surfaced in front of them to observe the onlookers, only to join the race with the rockhoppers.

“Rockhopper penguins are my favorites!” Nagisa told him, beaming.

Rei chuckled, knowing that fact full-well for so long. Not that it was any sort of secret at all, or anything Nagisa was willing to let any of his friends forget, but Rei had kept it in mind for a long time. It wasn’t until more recently, the week before actually, that he did any research on the species for the sake of this day, which he found more fascinating than he had expected. Nagisa had fixated on a fascinating creature. Rei stood closer to him, watching a mutual rockhopper penguin that stood cutely with its wings spread out. 

“Did you know rockhopper penguins are actually aggressive?” he asked, “Hard to believe, considering how cute they are.”

“Yeah, they’re not as social as other penguins, but they do it out of protection for their babies,” Nagisa said enthusiastically.

Rei looked down at Nagisa, surprised by the follow-up trivia.

“Oh,” he said, “Y-Yeah, that’s right. Do you know about their peculiar breeding habits?”

“They lay two eggs instead of one,” Nagisa said, “The first egg is smaller and usually hatches after the second egg, if at all. A lot of the times, the first egg doesn’t make it, so they take better care of the second one because it’s bigger and stronger. The first egg is usually positioned as a decoy in case a predator tries to steal it. Every once in a while, both babies end up making it.”

Nagisa was better-versed in rockhopper penguins than Rei had anticipated, though it shouldn’t have come as a surprise, considering they were, indeed, his favorite animal. It did put a slight set-back in Rei’s plans for a lead-up, but he could still work with it. He had to at least try to make his move. Rei checked around at the penguins on the rocks, trying to find a suitable pair. With miraculous timing, one of the rockhoppers bounded towards another, making sure to acknowledge its partner before nibbling at their feathers.

“Oh! Those two are allopreening,” he said.

Nagisa looked up at him questionably.

“Allopreening?” he asked.

“The act of mutual preening,” Rei explained, glad to have something to teach, “It’s a common behavior between rockhopper penguin partners. Apparently, it’s quite a loving gesture.”

“Ohh, I didn’t know there was a name for it!” Nagisa said in awe, gazing back at the penguins, “That’s so cute!”

Rei smiled, his eyes falling on Nagisa’s beautiful, golden hair. He lifted his hand to place against it, intending to stroke it lovingly and catch his attention. The moment they met eyes would be his signal. Just as his fingers reached for a lock, Nagisa enthusiastically redirected his attention to some swimming rockhoppers passing by and it slipped out of his grasp.

“Hey, this one looks like he’s swimming butterfly!” he exclaimed, “Maybe Rei-chan could be a penguin with me!”

Rei’s smile weakened, amused by Nagisa’s endearing enthusiasm but slightly frustrated by the change in subject. He could still redirect it.

“Th-The ones over here are still allopreening,” he said, “Maybe they’re mates.”

“Rockhoppers mate for life,” Nagisa said, still occupied by the swimming penguins, “They even return to the same breeding ground and use the same nests if they can! They’re romantic lovebirds. Just like you, Rei-chan!”

Rei’s face exploded in heat, composure lost. Such an unexpected flirt, and he was caught completely off-guard, his silence allowing time for Nagisa to change the subject again.

“I wonder if the zookeepers ever feed you guys squid,” he mused to the penguins, “If they don’t, I wanna bring you some.”

This was getting too far off topic.

“It’s amazing how fast they swim!” Nagisa exclaimed, his voice trailing away as he ran off after the racing penguins, “If we could swim this fast, we’d never have trouble making it to nationals! I bet they’re almost as fast as Haru-chan and Rin-chan!”

There was absolutely no hope of reminding Nagisa of the allopreening penguins at that point. This attempt was spiraling downward quickly.

“Hey, the ones back there are hopping! That’s the signature hop of the rockhoppers! It’s so much cuter in person!”

He had completely blown his chance. If only he had acted sooner, before Nagisa could have had time to pull away. He would have to plan out another scenario that would be equally as romantic, something else that was special to Nagisa, under entirely new circumstances and new scripting. But what could he possibly plan more perfect than this?!

“Hop, hop, hop! Rei-chan, come here, quick! You’re gonna miss it!”

He managed to get the two of them completely alone, with luck and a rainy day on his side. Even with the rest of their friends, and friends’ friends, and younger siblings all tagging along, he got the two of them alone! He couldn’t have made this more perfect up until that fatal slip!

“Aw, they stopped. Rei-chan, you missed the rockhoppers hopping. It was cute, too…”

There was no way he could plan a better time or place… He was sure this had to be it. Even if he tried to bring Nagisa back some other time without the others, there was no guarantee they’d be alone. It wouldn’t even have the same meaning or effect if he dragged Nagisa back just to look at the penguins another day. What was he supposed to do? Nagisa came running back to his side, tailing the rockhopper penguins as they soared through the water with ease.

“They never get tired!” he said, “Penguins are amazing! I wish I could swim like that!”

He looked up at Rei with a smile, meeting his eyes.

“Rei-chan, you really—”

The rest of his sentence was known only to heaven as Rei took his face into his hands and pulled him in to close the distance between their open lips. He wasn’t entirely sure he remembered acting on this, yet here they were. That had been the plan all along, right? But Nagisa was so quiet and still… With his eyes closed, Rei wasn’t sure what to make of how this was going, but he was terrified by the lack of response. It certainly got him to settle down, but was there ever a time Nagisa was completely silent and still? He wasn’t even returning the gesture. According to his studies, the perfect first kiss should be mutual. Did he bring this upon him too quickly? What if he wasn’t ready? Oh, God! _What if Nagisa wasn’t ready?_ Did he just steal his first kiss for real? This was just cruel. It wasn’t what he had intended at all. He couldn’t fix the mistake, but the least he could do was stop committing the unforgivable and repent for his actions. Just before he could release him, Rei felt a hand rest lightly against the back of his head and grip his hair, gently pulling him closer to Nagisa’s firming lips. It was a mutual kiss? _It was a mutual kiss!_ He had succeeded! Something was going right! Now—this posed a question—how to figure out if this was too long for a first kiss. How long did these things last normally again? Was this exceeding the limit? Out of caution, he pulled away slowly, pleased with himself for doing so with but a soft smack of the lips and no trace of saliva, which would certainly not be beautiful. He watched as Nagisa opened his eyes, staring back into his. He didn’t even crack a smile, to which Rei grew nervous. Was the kiss unsatisfactory after all? Perhaps he pulled away too soon? He began to ask for his input, but Nagisa’s lips met again as soon as his mouth opened, hooking his arms around his neck and bringing him down closer to his height. A warm breath filled him from Nagisa as he sighed, tightening his hold as if he never intended to let go. _No. The kiss hadn’t been satisfactory._ He’d clearly pulled away too soon. But it felt like it had lasted… so…

Rei’s self-critical thoughts trailed off as he melted into Nagisa’s kiss, letting out a sigh of content. It almost didn’t matter if their first hadn’t been as perfect as he’d thought. What he felt from this kiss was overwhelmingly wonderful, warmth spreading through every part of his body. His arms found their way around Nagisa and drew him closer, indulging in the feelings that both excited him and eased his tension. Nagisa cuddled his face against his with the deepest affection, and Rei lifted a hand to stroke his hair back gently, reveling in the feel of it. This kiss was beautiful and perfect in every way he could have hoped, feeling even better than he had expected. He would never forget a single detail: the rapid fluttering of his heart inside his chest, the warmth of the baby-soft face against his, the sweet taste of his breath, and the absolute peace of mind to accompany his bliss.

Nagisa pulled away first, leaving behind a slightly louder smack and a touch of wet at the corner of Rei’s lips. It didn’t end nearly as cleanly as he would have preferred, now creating a debate of whether to wipe it away and risk offending Nagisa or wear the trace of their kiss with slight discomfort at leaving something wet against his face. Despite that, Rei was able to look him in the eye with a smile, and Nagisa beamed back.

“You kept me waiting, Rei-chan…” he said softly.

“I-I know…” Rei murmured, ducking his face in shame, “I’m sorry…”

Nagisa shook his head, then nestling it beneath Rei’s chin affectionately as he leaned against him.

“Don’t be,” he said, “It was worth the wait.”

A warm smile returned to Rei’s lips, and he held Nagisa closer. When they faced each other again, Nagisa brought his hand to Rei’s face to caress his cheek before gently rubbing the corner of his lips with his thumb until he had left no trace of their kiss behind. Once they released one another, the two turned to the penguin exhibit again where Rei finally shared in Nagisa’s enthusiasm for the water birds. Eventually, the rest of their group caught up to watch the penguins with them. Ren and Ran struggled to get a better look at the ones on the rocks, to which Makoto and Haru were more than willing to lend their shoulders to prop the siblings up higher. When a rockhopper penguin was willing to face the group, Nagisa requested Rei take a picture of him with his favorite animal, finally completing the collection of Iwatobi’s and Samezuka’s animals to be found in the aquarium. They chatted happily amongst their friends in a familiar and comfortable routine, enjoying each other’s company. Yet, it was those occasional stolen glances that defined the time as theirs alone. Amidst all the aggravations, none of that took away from what Rei had intended to give Nagisa. To see him so happy with all of them together, and to see that he was happy with him too, made everything worthwhile.

* * *

The downpour had calmed to a light drizzle, hardly noticeable as the party walked outside, discussing their next stop. As they began listing their options, Nagisa made the sudden request to visit the butterfly pavilion next.

“I think that’s at the other side of the park,” Makoto said, looking at the map, “It might be better if we stop there on the way around. That way the rain should let up by then.”

“But we all found our animals,” Nagisa protested, “We didn’t find one for Rei-chan in the aquarium, so he should see his butterflies now.”

“That’s your reason?” Rin asked.

“I-It’s okay, Nagisa-kun,” Rei said with a smile, “We don’t have to go out of our way for that. We’ll get to the butterfly pavilion eventually.”

At this point, it was clear that Nagisa was distressed by the idea of not visiting the pavilion immediately. Though he wasn’t sure why it really mattered to him so much, Rei felt at war with himself over making Nagisa happy and making sure he didn’t inconvenience the others. It wasn’t fair to have them walk across the entire park just for his sake, but to see Nagisa so disappointed on what was seeming to flow as a nearly-perfect date… 

“I’d like to see the butterflies.” 

Haru spoke up, catching everyone by surprise.

“After all, this trip was Rei’s idea,” he said, “Like Nagisa said, he never found something in the aquarium, so we owe it to him to make sure he sees the butterflies.”

For the third time that day, Haru had touched Rei’s heart with his praise. But when the rest of the group agreed wholeheartedly, the feelings overwhelmed him so much he could have cried. Makoto led them across the zoo, passing by the other exhibits without even slowing to glance, all the while their friends anticipated seeing all the different beautiful butterflies. Nagisa matched Rei’s pace behind the others, brushing his hand against his and sparing him a knowing smile.

Inside the pavilion, they were immediately greeted by a vivid display of flashing color as the butterflies danced about gracefully. Minding their step, they navigated around the area, in awe over the exotic species of butterflies as well as native ones, many of which none of them had never seen in person. Momo identified many of them without difficulty, catching the interest of some of the other group members who wished to know each species by name. While Rei wouldn’t have minded it himself, Nagisa quietly pulled him aside and asked him an important question.

“Which butterfly is yours, Rei-chan?”

Rei hadn’t considered it, but Haru never gave him a specific butterfly, leaving him with the entire pavilion to choose from. He meandered around awhile, comparing every butterfly, each more beautiful than the last. But very quickly, his eye was drawn to a single swallowtail rested upon an iris. He stooped down to take a better look, and Nagisa knelt beside him, eagerly staring him down.

“Is this the one?” he asked.

Rei looked it over thoroughly, though the answer had already cemented itself in his heart. While the swallowtail wasn’t an uncommon or exotic species, there was no denying he identified with this one. He nodded to answer Nagisa’s question, staying beside the butterfly for a while to appreciate every beautiful feature, from its iridescence to its large eyes.

“You know… I noticed something about the swallowtail…”

Rei looked at Nagisa, who stared at the butterfly intensely.

“Haru-chan didn’t give you a specific butterfly, but I’ll bet he would choose this one too,” Nagisa said, “Before, you never saw yourself swimming, and when you did, you swam butterfly. If you look at a swallowtail from the tails, it looks like the head of a manta ray. So, in a way, even though you’re the only one whose animal doesn’t swim, you still hide something special and unexpected. Instead of just one animal, you’re two. You get to be the best of both worlds, and I think that’s pretty amazing.”

Rei couldn’t hide a smile as his face went red. Turning back to the swallowtail, he looked for the shape of the manta ray. Maybe it was a bit of a stretch, but he took Nagisa’s words to heart. At the very least, it offered him the peace and sense of belonging he had begun to doubt that day. Nagisa knew it had been on his mind all day, despite trying to hide it, and had spent the entire trip so far trying to help him find that belonging through any means possible. What had he done to deserve someone this wonderful in his life? 

He heard the faint sound of a shutter closing and looked to Nagisa again, who lowered his camera from eye level and began clicking through the camera menu. When he finished, he handed Rei his camera and moved closer until their hips met, watching the screen with him. The picture on the screen displayed a dark room, with Haru staring blankly back into the camera beside his dolphin model. Nagisa tapped a right button with his finger, guiding Rei to scroll through the collection of photos. Makoto smiling brightly with his siblings beside the orca model; Rin, Gou, and Sousuke smiling together in front of the shark tank; Ai kneeling beside the duck family with a pleasant smile; Momo and Seijuuro flexing enthusiastically in front of the otters; Nagisa beaming in front of the penguin exhibit with his rockhoppers…

The last photo caught Rei’s attention as it displayed. He recognized himself kneeling in the same place he knelt now, gazing at the same butterfly before him with an adoring smile, with at least seven variously colored butterflies on his head and shoulders. Aside from the location, there was a clear differentiation between the photos from the aquarium and this one. As he inspected its details, Nagisa leaned in a bit closer to his ear.

“That one’s my favorite,” he whispered.

Rei turned to face him again, and a cloud of vibrant colors passed him by, evidently the butterflies which had perched on him in the photo. As softly as the caresses of the butterflies’ wings themselves, Nagisa eased in and pecked the corner of his lips, drawing away without gathering attention from the others. He gazed contentedly at the butterflies fluttering around them, particularly fond of the friendly swallowtail that did not appear afraid of him as it lingered in front of him awhile. Rei’s heart melted inside his chest as he smiled at the sight, studying it so he would never forget this moment. He had found his favorite, too.

* * *

Once again, Rei returned Nagisa home as the stars began to appear in the sky. The walk from the train station had been their only time alone together since the butterfly pavilion, as they spent the rest of the day visiting each of the zoo’s exhibits with their friends. Though his feet ached and he knew he would sleep heavily that night, Rei felt fairly satisfied with the way things transpired that day. Not everyone had been in lifted spirits that morning, but by the end of the day as they went their separate ways at the train station, they all wore smiles due to the collaborative effort by Nagisa and himself, and he could take pride in that.

Nagisa faced him with a different kind of bliss that night—an almost overwhelmed joy, but far quieter than Rei had seen after previous dates. He, too, seemed tired, but this did not seem to affect his manner. Rei had no questions about this emotion, for he felt it too.

“Everyone had a lot of fun today,” Nagisa said, “Mako-chan and Haru-chan really liked showing Ren-chan and Ran-chan all the animals. I think Rin-chan and Gou-chan liked being able to see each other, and I think Momo-chan and Sei-chan missed each other too. We even got Ai-chan and Sou-chan smiling.”

“I think you were responsible for everyone’s smiles today, Nagisa-kun,” Rei said, “You worked hard to make sure the trip was worth everyone’s while.”

Nagisa looked at his feet, embarrassed.

“Um… I’m sorry again that I messed up this date,” he said, then facing Rei again, “But I’m glad it all worked out so well for everybody. I’m glad that it didn’t mess up what you wanted from it…”

“Me too,” Rei said, shy.

A short silence followed, and Nagisa bounced a bit with anticipation. Of course. Now that they had shared their first kiss, Rei would be able to properly kiss him goodnight every night. Still new to the idea, Rei cleared his throat and shifted his feet uneasily. The first time they kissed was already a blur since he had acted solely on emotion instead of his notes. Maybe now, he would benefit from resorting to the prior method.

“Nagisa-kun…?” he asked quietly, “Do you mind if I kiss you the way I intended to the first time?”

Nagisa’s smile widened, and he leaned in a little closer, eager as always. After a deep breath, Rei visualized his previous strategy again, beginning with their eye contact. To catch Nagisa’s attention in the first place… He placed his hand to his hair, caressing it slowly. The magenta irises flitted to where his hand touched, and the smile from before had faded into a much gentler expression at the contact. Beneath his hand, Rei felt warmth from Nagisa’s cheeks, which now nearly matched his eyes in color. They fixated half-lidded on his lips, his own parting in anticipation. Rei swallowed before parting his as well, allowing his eyelids to fall halfway as he leaned in. He first nudged the side of his nose against Nagisa’s—an initial, intentional nudge to assure he wouldn’t make the mistake of spoiling the moment by doing so accidentally. Then, slightly tilting his head, Rei closed his eyes and pressed his lips against the pair before his. He felt him inhale softly, then exhale as he leaned into him, filling him with that same sweet breath. From the first experience, he learned that Nagisa preferred a longer kiss, and made a slight adjustment in timing. Even though he felt far less nervous about this kiss, his heart still raced out of control, gushing over with warmth. The sensation of Nagisa’s face snuggling against his, the warm touch of his hands slowly stroking his back, the smoothness of his lips against his, and the soft sigh he let out as Rei nuzzled deeper into it—all of it felt perfect. The exact perfect he wanted for their first kiss.

Slowly, he allowed their lips to separate in their own time as both parted away, breathless. Upon opening his eyes, even through the dark, Rei could see Nagisa’s face had flushed a deep red. His eyes broke contact immediately upon opening his own, blinking at Rei’s chest shyly. 

“Wow…” he said softly, his hands curling around the fabric of Rei’s shirt, “That… that would have been an amazing first kiss, too…”

A twinge of guilt ached inside Rei’s chest. Nagisa had truly loved that kiss, and he couldn’t help but wonder if he would have preferred it. No. He definitely would have preferred a perfect kiss over whatever that last-minute act delivered. If only he’d just kept his composure a while longer, that could have been Nagisa’s first kiss. And after everything Nagisa had done for him that day, he deserved that perfect and more. Their eyes met once again, and Nagisa’s flashed open as he noticed Rei had withered.

“Ah, Rei-chan, I didn’t mean—”

“Well, that settles it,” Rei interrupted with a smile, “I’ll just have to study more about kissing to try with you.”

After a brief pause of surprise, Nagisa smiled back.

“Or…” he started playfully, “You could just practice with me…”

Rei chuckled, embracing Nagisa’s waist and touching his forehead to his.

“I’d like that very much,” he said.

Nagisa giggled softly, hooking his arms around his shoulders as Rei leaned him back against the house’s siding and pressed in for another kiss. 

Out of seemingly nowhere, the faint voice of a girl urged Rei by name to take a step further, citing something rather specific and lewd. The audacious suggestion severed the kiss on both ends immediately, and Nagisa, to Rei’s complete surprise, appeared just as dreadfully mortified. He broke their embrace to throw the front door open with fury.

“Onee-chan!” he wailed inside toward the window, “What are you guys doing?! Don’t spy on us!”

“Oh, come on!” presumably one of his sisters whined, followed by another’s laughter, “It’s going so well, though!”

“It’s not going to go well if you tell Rei-chan to do embarrassing things like that! I never messed with your boyfriends!”

“Aww, we’re just having a little fun with him!”

A girl with sienna hair tied up in a low bun came stumbling to the door, leaning on Nagisa and pinching his cheeks, causing quite a bit of visible annoyance.

“Come on, Rei-chan, you know you can’t resist this face,” she cooed.

“Stop it, Onee-chan,” Nagisa groaned, trying to shove her off.

Another girl of close age with deeper sienna hair followed the first, placing her hands on Nagisa’s shoulders while giving Rei an eerily familiar mischievous smile.

“Yeah, all you needed to get past was that first kiss, right?” she asked.

“Well done on that, by the way,” chimed in a third girl who appeared a bit more mature and had a much blonder brown hair in a looser bun. She then narrowed her eyes intimidatingly, hissing, “But seriously, if you ever try anything like that on our baby brother, you’ll have us to deal with.”

Suddenly, Rei realized the other two sisters had also given him the same glare. He trembled slightly, unsure if he was really being threatened or if this was a classic Hazuki “difficult to tell if they’re joking” situation. He looked to Nagisa, who, to Rei’s distress, looked ashamed by what was happening and was apologizing profusely through his eyes. All of this because Rei couldn’t have chosen a more appropriate place to kiss Nagisa than right outside his front door. Suppose it had been his parents to show up instead. He tried to find his words, but his brain was short-circuiting as a result of the embarrassment and the four pairs of eyes staring him own. Barely able to make eye contact with Nagisa, he adjusted his glasses and tried not to look at the sisters. The very least he could do was spare Nagisa further embarrassment and leave immediately. 

“I-I, um…” he stammered, “I should… um… I’m sorry. Good night, Nagisa-kun. Excuse me…”

Quickly, he turned and hurried away, keeping his eyes forward as the girls exploded into laughter.

“Rei-chan, we’re totally kidding, come back!” one called after him.

“Don’t run away!”

Despite what appeared to have been an attempt at hazing, Rei kept his pace quick and his head low, trying to cover his blush as he ducked out of their sight. Of course this would happen. He had only met one of Nagisa’s sisters before, so he had to leave this sort of impression on them so early on. And more than likely, they would tease Nagisa about this relentlessly. How could he be so careless after a day of careful planning?

“Rei-chan, wait!” 

Nagisa tore around the corner after him, catching him by the hand. When Rei turned, Nagisa buried his face against his chest.

“I’m sorry…” he muttered, “I didn’t think they’d do something like that… Please don’t be mad…”

Rei smiled gently and stroked back Nagisa’s hair, and he looked up at him with concern.

“I’m not mad,” Rei assured him, “I’m just sorry I wasn’t more careful about this. I promise I won’t embarrass you like that again.”

He pressed a light, brief kiss to Nagisa’s cheek. When he pulled away, he could only see pain in Nagisa’s expression, only further discomforting him. But at this point, nothing else could be done or undone.

“I’ll text you when I get home,” he said, “And, um… please apologize again to your sisters for me. Good night.”

He pulled his hand away and walked off, his pace slower than before, but his gaze on the sidewalk just as intense, refusing to look Nagisa in the eye.

* * *

_ >I’ve just arrived home. I’m sorry again about earlier, Nagisa-kun._

_> no im sorry! （ＴДＴ）it’s my sisters fault for harassing you like that! i gave them a good scolding after you went home ι(｀ロ´)ノ they said they were sorry and wont spy anymore so dont worry about it!_

_> I appreciate it, but I think it’s best if we remain cautious from now on. I’d hate for your parents to find out this way._

_> i guess… (; ´ - `) but i’ll still send u a digital kiss! (ʃƪ ˘ ³˘) ～♡ good night rei-chan! i love you!_

_> Good night, Nagisa-kun. <3 Sweet dreams._

Rei read over their text conversation again before settling in for the night. No amount of Nagisa’s reassurance would ever fully convince him that his negligence hadn’t caused him the embarrassment, but he seemed forgiving at the least. Though he was the one at fault, Rei couldn’t help feeling disappointed he would likely not kiss Nagisa goodnight again until he could do so with more discretion. He ran his fingertips tenderly across his lips, warm memories of their last kiss putting him at ease. Had he known what he was missing, and if he had the courage, he might have kissed Nagisa on their first date after all, or perhaps even before then. Practicing now would prove difficult, but he would find a time again. All of his studying and particularity made that experience worth every second. His dreams that night truly were sweet.


End file.
